Methods and systems for managing services and device data

ABSTRACT

Computationally implemented methods and systems include acquiring property data regarding at least one property of one or more devices, generating anonymized data by altering the acquired property data to obscure one or more portions of the acquired property data that uniquely identify the one or more devices and/or one or more users of the one or more devices, presenting the anonymized data to one or more service providers configured to generate one or more services, and acquiring the generated one or more services, said generated one or more services at least partly based on the anonymized data. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

If an Application Data Sheet (ADS) has been filed on the filing date ofthis application, it is incorporated by reference herein. Anyapplications claimed on the ADS for priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119, 120,121, or 365(c), and any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of such applications, are also incorporated byreference, including any priority claims made in those applications andany material incorporated by reference, to the extent such subjectmatter is not inconsistent herewith.

The present application is related to and/or claims the benefit of theearliest available effective filing date(s) from the following listedapplication(s) (the “Priority Applications”), if any, listed below(e.g., claims earliest available priority dates for other thanprovisional patent applications or claims benefits under 35 USC §119(e)for provisional patent applications, for any and all parent,grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of the PriorityApplication(s)). In addition, the present application is related to the“Related Applications,” if any, listed below.

PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication claims benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/720,245 titled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DATA SERVICES,naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W.Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 30 Oct. 2012, which wasfiled within the twelve months preceding the filing date of the presentapplication or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication claims benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/720,874 titled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DATA SERVICES,naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W.Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Oct. 2012, which wasfiled within the twelve months preceding the filing date of the presentapplication or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/685,485, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORMANAGING DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T.Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 26 Nov.2012 with attorney docket no. 0712-003-013-000000, which is currentlyco-pending or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/685,609, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORMANAGING DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T.Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 26 Nov.2012 with attorney docket no. 0712-003-013-000001, which is currentlyco-pending or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/685,488, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORMANAGING DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T.Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 26 Nov.2012 with attorney docket no. 0712-003-014-000000, which is currentlyco-pending or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/685,612, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORMANAGING DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T.Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 26 Nov.2012 with attorney docket no. 0712-003-014-000001, which is currentlyco-pending or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/685,491, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORMANAGING DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T.Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 26 Nov.2012 with attorney docket no. 0712-003-015-000000, which is currentlyco-pending or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/685,613, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORMANAGING DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T.Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 26 Nov.2012 with attorney docket no. 0712-003-015-000001, which is currentlyco-pending or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/692,829, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORMANAGING DEVICE DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, RichardT. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 3 Dec.2012 with attorney docket no. 0712-003-016-000000, which is currentlyco-pending or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the presentapplication constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/692,882, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FORMANAGING DEVICE DATA, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, RichardT. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 3 Dec.2012 with attorney docket no. 0712-003-016-000001, which is currentlyco-pending or is an application of which a currently co-pendingapplication is entitled to the benefit of the filing date.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

United States patent application No. TO BE ASSIGNED, entitled METHODSAND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING ONE OR MORE SERVICES AND/OR DEVICE DATA, namingEdward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, andMark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2012 with attorney docketno. 0712-003-017-000000, is related to the present application.

United States patent application No. TO BE ASSIGNED, entitled METHODSAND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING ONE OR MORE SERVICES AND/OR DEVICE DATA, namingEdward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, andMark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2012 with attorney docketno. 0712-003-017-000001, is related to the present application.

United States patent application No. TO BE ASSIGNED, entitled METHODSAND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING SERVICES AND DEVICE DATA, naming Edward K. Y.Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A.Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2012 with attorney docket no.0712-003-018-000001, is related to the present application.

United States patent application No. TO BE ASSIGNED, entitled METHODSAND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING DATA AND/OR SERVICES FOR DEVICES, naming EdwardK. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and MarkA. Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2012 with attorney docket no.0712-003-019-000000, is related to the present application.

United States patent application No. TO BE ASSIGNED, entitled METHODSAND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING DATA AND/OR SERVICES FOR DEVICES, naming EdwardK. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and MarkA. Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2012 with attorney docket no.0712-003-019-C00001, is related to the present application.

United States patent application No. TO BE ASSIGNED, entitled METHODSAND SYSTEMS FOR MONITORING AND/OR MANAGING DEVICE DATA, naming Edward K.Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A.Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2012 with attorney docket no.0712-003-020-000000, is related to the present application.

United States patent application No. TO BE ASSIGNED, entitled METHODSAND SYSTEMS FOR MONITORING AND/OR MANAGING DEVICE DATA, naming Edward K.Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A.Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2012 with attorney docket no.0712-003-020-C00001, is related to the present application.

The United States Patent Office (USPTO) has published a notice to theeffect that the USPTO's computer programs require that patent applicantsreference both a serial number and indicate whether an application is acontinuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional of a parentapplication. Stephen G. Kunin, Benefit of Prior-Filed Application, USPTOOfficial Gazette Mar. 18, 2003. The USPTO further has provided forms forthe Application Data Sheet which allow automatic loading ofbibliographic data but which require identification of each applicationas a continuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional of a parentapplication. The present Applicant Entity (hereinafter “Applicant”) hasprovided above a specific reference to the application(s) from whichpriority is being claimed as recited by statute. Applicant understandsthat the statute is unambiguous in its specific reference language anddoes not require either a serial number or any characterization, such as“continuation” or “continuation-in-part,” for claiming priority to U.S.patent applications. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Applicantunderstands that the USPTO's computer programs have certain data entryrequirements, and hence Applicant has provided designation(s) of arelationship between the present application and its parentapplication(s) as set forth above and in any ADS filed in thisapplication, but expressly points out that such designation(s) are notto be construed in any way as any type of commentary and/or admission asto whether or not the present application contains any new matter inaddition to the matter of its parent application(s).

If the listings of applications provided above are inconsistent with thelistings provided via an ADS, it is the intent of the Applicant to claimpriority to each application that appears in the Priority Applicationssection of the ADS and to each application that appears in the PriorityApplications section of this application.

All subject matter of the Priority Applications and the RelatedApplications and of any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent,etc. applications of the Priority Applications and the RelatedApplications, including any priority claims, is incorporated herein byreference to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistentherewith.

BACKGROUND

This application is related to data services.

SUMMARY

In one or more various aspects, a method includes but is not limited toacquiring property data regarding at least one property of one or moredevices, generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata to obscure one or more portions of the acquired property data thatuniquely identify the one or more devices and/or one or more users ofthe one or more devices, presenting the anonymized data to one or moreservice providers configured to generate one or more services, andacquiring the generated one or more services, said generated one or moreservices at least partly based on the anonymized data. In addition tothe foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims,drawings, and text forming a part of the disclosure set forth herein.

In one or more various aspects, one or more related systems may beimplemented in machines, compositions of matter, or manufactures ofsystems, limited to patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101. Theone or more related systems may include, but are not limited to,circuitry and/or programming for effecting the herein-referenced methodaspects. The circuitry and/or programming may be virtually anycombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware configured to effectthe herein-referenced method aspects depending upon the design choicesof the system designer, and limited to patentable subject matter under35 USC 101.

In one or more various aspects, a system includes, but is not limitedto, means for acquiring property data regarding at least one property ofone or more devices, means for generating anonymized data by alteringthe acquired property data to obscure one or more portions of theacquired property data that uniquely identify the one or more devicesand/or one or more users of the one or more devices, means forpresenting the anonymized data to one or more service providersconfigured to generate one or more services, and means for acquiring thegenerated one or more services, said generated one or more services atleast partly based on the anonymized data. In addition to the foregoing,other system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and textforming a part of the disclosure set forth herein.

In one or more various aspects, a system includes, but is not limitedto, circuitry for acquiring property data regarding at least oneproperty of one or more devices, circuitry for generating anonymizeddata by altering the acquired property data to obscure one or moreportions of the acquired property data that uniquely identify the one ormore devices and/or one or more users of the one or more devices,circuitry for presenting the anonymized data to one or more serviceproviders configured to generate one or more services, and acquiring thegenerated one or more services, said generated one or more services atleast partly based on the anonymized data. In addition to the foregoing,other system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and textforming a part of the disclosure set forth herein.

In one or more various aspects, a computer program product, comprising asignal bearing medium, bearing one or more instructions including, butnot limited to, one or more instructions for acquiring property dataregarding at least one property of one or more devices, one or moreinstructions for generating anonymized data by altering the acquiredproperty data to obscure one or more portions of the acquired propertydata that uniquely identify the one or more devices and/or one or moreusers of the one or more devices, and one or more instructions forpresenting the anonymized data to one or more service providersconfigured to generate one or more services, and one or moreinstructions for acquiring the generated one or more services, saidgenerated one or more services at least partly based on the anonymizeddata. In addition to the foregoing, other computer program productaspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a partof the disclosure set forth herein.

In one or more various aspects, a device is defined by a computationallanguage, such that the device comprises one or more interchainedphysical machines ordered for acquiring property data regarding at leastone property of one or more devices, one or more interchained physicalmachines ordered for generating anonymized data by altering the acquiredproperty data to obscure one or more portions of the acquired propertydata that uniquely identify the one or more devices and/or one or moreusers of the one or more devices, one or more interchained physicalmachines ordered for presenting the anonymized data to one or moreservice providers configured to generate one or more services, and oneor more interchained physical machines ordered for acquiring thegenerated one or more services, said generated one or more services atleast partly based on the anonymized data.

In addition to the foregoing, various other method and/or system and/orprogram product aspects are set forth and described in the teachingssuch as text (e.g., claims and/or detailed description) and/or drawingsof the present disclosure.

The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications,generalizations, inclusions, and/or omissions of detail; consequently,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary isillustrative only and is NOT intended to be in any way limiting. Otheraspects, features, and advantages of the devices and/or processes and/orother subject matter described herein will become apparent by referenceto the detailed description, the corresponding drawings, and/or in theteachings set forth herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

For a more complete understanding of embodiments, reference now is madeto the following descriptions taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings. The use of the same symbols in different drawings typicallyindicates similar or identical items, unless context dictates otherwise.The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description,drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments maybe utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from thespirit or scope of the subject matter presented here.

FIG. 1A shows a high-level block diagram of an exemplary environment100, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 1B shows a high-level block diagram of a personal device 120operating in an exemplary environment 100, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 1C shows a high level block diagram of a computing device 130Aoperating in an exemplary embodiment 100′, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 1D shows a high-level block diagram of a computing device 130Boperating in an exemplary embodiment 100″, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 1E shows a high-level block diagram of a computing device 130Coperating in an exemplary embodiment 100″′, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 1F shows a high-level block diagram of a computing device 130Doperating in an exemplary embodiment 100″″, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2, including FIGS. 2A-2B, shows a particular perspective of andevice attribute data related to one or more device attributes obtainingmodule 152 of processing module 150 of computing device 130 of FIG. 1B,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3, including FIGS. 3A-3C, shows a particular perspective of aanonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module 154 of processing module 150 of computing device 130of FIG. 1B, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4, including FIGS. 4A-4C, shows a particular perspective of ananonymized data presentation to one or more entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services facilitating module 156 ofprocessing module 150 of computing device 130 of FIG. 1B, according toan embodiment.

FIG. 5, including FIGS. 5A-5E, shows a particular perspective of an oneor more entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring module 158 of processing module 150 ofcomputing device 130 of FIG. 1B, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a high-level logic flowchart of a process, e.g., operationalflow 600, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7A is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of an acquiring property data operation 602,according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 7B is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of an acquiring property data operation 602,according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 8A is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of a generating anonymized data operation 604,according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 8B is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of a generating anonymized data operation 604,according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 8C is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of a generating anonymized data operation 604,according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 9A is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of a presenting the anonymized data operation606, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 9B is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of a presenting the anonymized data operation606, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 9C is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of a presenting the anonymized data operation606, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 10A is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of an acquiring the generated one or moreservices operation 608, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 10B is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of an acquiring the generated one or moreservices operation 608, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 10C is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of an acquiring the generated one or moreservices operation 608, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 10D is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of an acquiring the generated one or moreservices operation 608, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 10E is a high-level logic flow chart of a process depictingalternate implementations of an acquiring the generated one or moreservices operation 608, according to one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar or identical components oritems, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodimentsdescribed in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are notmeant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and otherchanges may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of thesubject matter presented here.

Thus, in accordance with various embodiments, computationallyimplemented methods, systems, circuitry, articles of manufacture,ordered chains of matter, and computer program products are designed to,among other things, provide an interface for acquiring property dataregarding at least one property of one or more devices, generatinganonymized data by altering the acquired property data to obscure one ormore portions of the acquired property data that uniquely identify theone or more devices and/or one or more users of the one or more devices,presenting the anonymized data to one or more service providersconfigured to generate one or more services, and acquiring the generatedone or more services, said generated one or more services at leastpartly based on the anonymized data.

The claims, description, and drawings of this application may describeone or more of the instant technologies in operational/functionallanguage, for example as a set of operations to be performed by acomputer. Such operational/functional description in most instanceswould be understood by one skilled the art as specifically-configuredhardware (e.g., because a general purpose computer in effect becomes aspecial purpose computer once it is programmed to perform particularfunctions pursuant to instructions from program software).

Importantly, although the operational/functional descriptions describedherein are understandable by the human mind, they are not abstract ideasof the operations/functions divorced from computational implementationof those operations/functions. Rather, the operations/functionsrepresent a specification for the massively complex computationalmachines or other means. As discussed in detail below, theoperational/functional language must be read in its proper technologicalcontext, i.e., as concrete specifications for physical implementations.

The logical operations/functions described herein are a distillation ofmachine specifications or other physical mechanisms specified by theoperations/functions such that the otherwise inscrutable machinespecifications may be comprehensible to the human mind. The distillationalso allows one of skill in the art to adapt the operational/functionaldescription of the technology across many different specific vendors'hardware configurations or platforms, without being limited to specificvendors' hardware configurations or platforms.

Some of the present technical description (e.g., detailed description,drawings, claims, etc.) may be set forth in terms of logicaloperations/functions. As described in more detail in the followingparagraphs, these logical operations/functions are not representationsof abstract ideas, but rather representative of static or sequencedspecifications of various hardware elements. Differently stated, unlesscontext dictates otherwise, the logical operations/functions will beunderstood by those of skill in the art to be representative of staticor sequenced specifications of various hardware elements. This is truebecause tools available to one of skill in the art to implementtechnical disclosures set forth in operational/functional formats—toolsin the form of a high-level programming language (e.g., C, java, visualbasic), etc.), or tools in the form of Very high speed HardwareDescription Language (“VHDL,” which is a language that uses text todescribe logic circuits)—are generators of static or sequencedspecifications of various hardware configurations. This fact issometimes obscured by the broad term “software,” but, as shown by thefollowing explanation, those skilled in the art understand that what istermed “software” is a shorthand for a massively complexinterchaining/specification of ordered-matter elements. The term“ordered-matter elements” may refer to physical components ofcomputation, such as assemblies of electronic logic gates, molecularcomputing logic constituents, quantum computing mechanisms, etc.

For example, a high-level programming language is a programming languagewith strong abstraction, e.g., multiple levels of abstraction, from thedetails of the sequential organizations, states, inputs, outputs, etc.,of the machines that a high-level programming language actuallyspecifies. See, e.g., Wikipedia, High-level programming language,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-levelprogramming_language (as of Jun.5, 2012, 21:00 GMT). In order to facilitate human comprehension, in manyinstances, high-level programming languages resemble or even sharesymbols with natural languages. See, e.g., Wikipedia, Natural language,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:00GMT).

It has been argued that because high-level programming languages usestrong abstraction (e.g., that they may resemble or share symbols withnatural languages), they are therefore a “purely mental construct.”(e.g., that “software”—a computer program or computer programming—issomehow an ineffable mental construct, because at a high level ofabstraction, it can be conceived and understood in the human mind). Thisargument has been used to characterize technical description in the formof functions/operations as somehow “abstract ideas.” In fact, intechnological arts (e.g., the information and communicationtechnologies) this is not true.

The fact that high-level programming languages use strong abstraction tofacilitate human understanding should not be taken as an indication thatwhat is expressed is an abstract idea. In fact, those skilled in the artunderstand that just the opposite is true. If a high-level programminglanguage is the tool used to implement a technical disclosure in theform of functions/operations, those skilled in the art will recognizethat, far from being abstract, imprecise, “fuzzy,” or “mental” in anysignificant semantic sense, such a tool is instead a nearincomprehensibly precise sequential specification of specificcomputational machines—the parts of which are built up byactivating/selecting such parts from typically more generalcomputational machines over time (e.g., clocked time). This fact issometimes obscured by the superficial similarities between high-levelprogramming languages and natural languages. These superficialsimilarities also may cause a glossing over of the fact that high-levelprogramming language implementations ultimately perform valuable work bycreating/controlling many different computational machines.

The many different computational machines that a high-level programminglanguage specifies are almost unimaginably complex. At base, thehardware used in the computational machines typically consists of sometype of ordered matter (e.g., traditional electronic devices (e.g.,transistors), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), quantum devices, mechanicalswitches, optics, fluidics, pneumatics, optical devices (e.g., opticalinterference devices), molecules, etc.) that are arranged to form logicgates. Logic gates are typically physical devices that may beelectrically, mechanically, chemically, or otherwise driven to changephysical state in order to create a physical reality of Boolean logic.

Logic gates may be arranged to form logic circuits, which are typicallyphysical devices that may be electrically, mechanically, chemically, orotherwise driven to create a physical reality of certain logicalfunctions. Types of logic circuits include such devices as multiplexers,registers, arithmetic logic units (ALUs), computer memory, etc., eachtype of which may be combined to form yet other types of physicaldevices, such as a central processing unit (CPU)—the best known of whichis the microprocessor. A modern microprocessor will often contain morethan one hundred million logic gates in its many logic circuits (andoften more than a billion transistors). See, e.g., Wikipedia, Logicgates, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_gates (as of Jun. 5, 2012,21:03 GMT).

The logic circuits forming the microprocessor are arranged to provide amicroarchitecture that will carry out the instructions defined by thatmicroprocessor's defined Instruction Set Architecture. The InstructionSet Architecture is the part of the microprocessor architecture relatedto programming, including the native data types, instructions,registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt andexception handling, and external Input/Output. See, e.g., Wikipedia,Computer architecture,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_architecture (as of Jun. 5, 2012,21:03 GMT).

The Instruction Set Architecture includes a specification of the machinelanguage that can be used by programmers to use/control themicroprocessor. Since the machine language instructions are such thatthey may be executed directly by the microprocessor, typically theyconsist of strings of binary digits, or bits. For example, a typicalmachine language instruction might be many bits long (e.g., 32, 64, or128 bit strings are currently common). A typical machine languageinstruction might take the form “11110000101011110000111100111111” (a 32bit instruction).

It is significant here that, although the machine language instructionsare written as sequences of binary digits, in actuality those binarydigits specify physical reality. For example, if certain semiconductorsare used to make the operations of Boolean logic a physical reality, theapparently mathematical bits “1” and “0” in a machine languageinstruction actually constitute shorthand that specifies the applicationof specific voltages to specific wires. For example, in somesemiconductor technologies, the binary number “1” (e.g., logical “1”) ina machine language instruction specifies around +5 volts applied to aspecific “wire” (e.g., metallic traces on a printed circuit board) andthe binary number “0” (e.g., logical “0”) in a machine languageinstruction specifies around −5 volts applied to a specific “wire.” Inaddition to specifying voltages of the machines' configuration, suchmachine language instructions also select out and activate specificgroupings of logic gates from the millions of logic gates of the moregeneral machine. Thus, far from abstract mathematical expressions,machine language instruction programs, even though written as a stringof zeros and ones, specify many, many constructed physical machines orphysical machine states.

Machine language is typically incomprehensible by most humans (e.g., theabove example was just ONE instruction, and some personal computersexecute more than two billion instructions every second). See, e.g.,Wikipedia, Instructions per second,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_second (as of Jun. 5,2012, 21:04 GMT). Thus, programs written in machine language—which maybe tens of millions of machine language instructions long—areincomprehensible. In view of this, early assembly languages weredeveloped that used mnemonic codes to refer to machine languageinstructions, rather than using the machine language instructions'numeric values directly (e.g., for performing a multiplicationoperation, programmers coded the abbreviation “mult,” which representsthe binary number “011000” in MIPS machine code). While assemblylanguages were initially a great aid to humans controlling themicroprocessors to perform work, in time the complexity of the work thatneeded to be done by the humans outstripped the ability of humans tocontrol the microprocessors using merely assembly languages.

At this point, it was noted that the same tasks needed to be done overand over, and the machine language necessary to do those repetitivetasks was the same. In view of this, compilers were created. A compileris a device that takes a statement that is more comprehensible to ahuman than either machine or assembly language, such as “add 2+2 andoutput the result,” and translates that human understandable statementinto a complicated, tedious, and immense machine language code (e.g.,millions of 32, 64, or 128 bit length strings). Compilers thus translatehigh-level programming language into machine language.

This compiled machine language, as described above, is then used as thetechnical specification which sequentially constructs and causes theinteroperation of many different computational machines such thathumanly useful, tangible, and concrete work is done. For example, asindicated above, such machine language—the compiled version of thehigher-level language—functions as a technical specification whichselects out hardware logic gates, specifies voltage levels, voltagetransition timings, etc., such that the humanly useful work isaccomplished by the hardware.

Thus, a functional/operational technical description, when viewed by oneof skill in the art, is far from an abstract idea. Rather, such afunctional/operational technical description, when understood throughthe tools available in the art such as those just described, is insteadunderstood to be a humanly understandable representation of a hardwarespecification, the complexity and specificity of which far exceeds thecomprehension of most any one human. With this in mind, those skilled inthe art will understand that any such operational/functional technicaldescriptions—in view of the disclosures herein and the knowledge ofthose skilled in the art—may be understood as operations made intophysical reality by (a) one or more interchained physical machines, (b)interchained logic gates configured to create one or more physicalmachine(s) representative of sequential/combinatorial logic(s), (c)interchained ordered matter making up logic gates (e.g., interchainedelectronic devices (e.g., transistors), DNA, quantum devices, mechanicalswitches, optics, fluidics, pneumatics, molecules, etc.) that createphysical reality representative of logic(s), or (d) virtually anycombination of the foregoing. Indeed, any physical object which has astable, measurable, and changeable state may be used to construct amachine based on the above technical description. Charles Babbage, forexample, constructed the first computer out of wood and powered bycranking a handle.

Thus, far from being understood as an abstract idea, those skilled inthe art will recognize a functional/operational technical description asa humanly-understandable representation of one or more almostunimaginably complex and time sequenced hardware instantiations. Thefact that functional/operational technical descriptions might lendthemselves readily to high-level computing languages (or high-levelblock diagrams for that matter) that share some words, structures,phrases, etc. with natural language simply cannot be taken as anindication that such functional/operational technical descriptions areabstract ideas, or mere expressions of abstract ideas. In fact, asoutlined herein, in the technological arts this is simply not true. Whenviewed through the tools available to those of skill in the art, suchfunctional/operational technical descriptions are seen as specifyinghardware configurations of almost unimaginable complexity.

As outlined above, the reason for the use of functional/operationaltechnical descriptions is at least twofold. First, the use offunctional/operational technical descriptions allows near-infinitelycomplex machines and machine operations arising from interchainedhardware elements to be described in a manner that the human mind canprocess (e.g., by mimicking natural language and logical narrativeflow). Second, the use of functional/operational technical descriptionsassists the person of skill in the art in understanding the describedsubject matter by providing a description that is more or lessindependent of any specific vendor's piece(s) of hardware.

The use of functional/operational technical descriptions assists theperson of skill in the art in understanding the described subject mattersince, as is evident from the above discussion, one could easily,although not quickly, transcribe the technical descriptions set forth inthis document as trillions of ones and zeroes, billions of single linesof assembly-level machine code, millions of logic gates, thousands ofgate arrays, or any number of intermediate levels of abstractions.However, if any such low-level technical descriptions were to replacethe present technical description, a person of skill in the art couldencounter undue difficulty in implementing the disclosure, because sucha low-level technical description would likely add complexity without acorresponding benefit (e.g., by describing the subject matter utilizingthe conventions of one or more vendor-specific pieces of hardware).Thus, the use of functional/operational technical descriptions assiststhose of skill in the art by separating the technical descriptions fromthe conventions of any vendor-specific piece of hardware.

In view of the foregoing, the logical operations/functions set forth inthe present technical description are representative of static orsequenced specifications of various ordered-matter elements, in orderthat such specifications may be comprehensible to the human mind andadaptable to create many various hardware configurations. The logicaloperations/functions disclosed herein should be treated as such, andshould not be disparagingly characterized as abstract ideas merelybecause the specifications they represent are presented in a manner thatone of skill in the art can readily understand and apply in a mannerindependent of a specific vendor's hardware implementation.

Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the arthas progressed to the point where there is little distinction leftbetween hardware, software, and/or firmware implementations of aspectsof systems; the use of hardware, software, and/or firmware is generally(but not always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardwareand software can become significant) a design choice representing costvs. efficiency tradeoffs. Those having skill in the art will appreciatethat there are various vehicles by which processes and/or systems and/orother technologies described herein can be effected (e.g., hardware,software, and/or firmware), and that the preferred vehicle will varywith the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or othertechnologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determinesthat speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for amainly hardware and/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibilityis paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly softwareimplementation; or, yet again alternatively, the implementer may opt forsome combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware in one or moremachines, compositions of matter, and articles of manufacture, limitedto patentable subject matter under 35 USC 101. Hence, there are severalpossible vehicles by which the processes and/or devices and/or othertechnologies described herein may be effected, none of which isinherently superior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is achoice dependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployedand the specific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability)of the implementer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that optical aspects of implementations will typically employoptically-oriented hardware, software, and or firmware.

In some implementations described herein, logic and similarimplementations may include software or other control structures.Electronic circuitry, for example, may have one or more paths ofelectrical current constructed and arranged to implement variousfunctions as described herein. In some implementations, one or moremedia may be configured to bear a device-detectable implementation whensuch media hold or transmit device detectable instructions operable toperform as described herein. In some variants, for example,implementations may include an update or modification of existingsoftware or firmware, or of gate arrays or programmable hardware, suchas by performing a reception of or a transmission of one or moreinstructions in relation to one or more operations described herein.Alternatively or additionally, in some variants, an implementation mayinclude special-purpose hardware, software, firmware components, and/orgeneral-purpose components executing or otherwise invokingspecial-purpose components. Specifications or other implementations maybe transmitted by one or more instances of tangible transmission mediaas described herein, optionally by packet transmission or otherwise bypassing through distributed media at various times.

Alternatively or additionally, implementations may include executing aspecial-purpose instruction sequence or invoking circuitry for enabling,triggering, coordinating, requesting, or otherwise causing one or moreoccurrences of virtually any functional operations described herein. Insome variants, operational or other logical descriptions herein may beexpressed as source code and compiled or otherwise invoked as anexecutable instruction sequence. In some contexts, for example,implementations may be provided, in whole or in part, by source code,such as C++, or other code sequences. In other implementations, sourceor other code implementation, using commercially available and/ortechniques in the art, may be compiled//implemented/translated/convertedinto a high-level descriptor language (e.g., initially implementingdescribed technologies in C or C++ programming language and thereafterconverting the programming language implementation into alogic-synthesizable language implementation, a hardware descriptionlanguage implementation, a hardware design simulation implementation,and/or other such similar mode(s) of expression). For example, some orall of a logical expression (e.g., computer programming languageimplementation) may be manifested as a Verilog-type hardware description(e.g., via Hardware Description Language (HDL) and/or Very High SpeedIntegrated Circuit Hardware Descriptor Language (VHDL)) or othercircuitry model which may then be used to create a physicalimplementation having hardware (e.g., an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit). Those skilled in the art will recognize how to obtain,configure, and optimize suitable transmission or computational elements,material supplies, actuators, or other structures in light of theseteachings.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto implement devices and/or processes and/or systems, and thereafter useengineering and/or other practices to integrate such implemented devicesand/or processes and/or systems into more comprehensive devices and/orprocesses and/or systems. That is, at least a portion of the devicesand/or processes and/or systems described herein can be integrated intoother devices and/or processes and/or systems via a reasonable amount ofexperimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize thatexamples of such other devices and/or processes and/or systems mightinclude—as appropriate to context and application—all or part of devicesand/or processes and/or systems of (a) an air conveyance (e.g., anairplane, rocket, helicopter, etc.), (b) a ground conveyance (e.g., acar, truck, locomotive, tank, armored personnel carrier, etc.), (c) abuilding (e.g., a home, warehouse, office, etc.), (d) an appliance(e.g., a refrigerator, a washing machine, a dryer, etc.), (e) acommunications system (e.g., a networked system, a telephone system, aVoice over IP system, etc.), (f) a business entity (e.g., an InternetService Provider (ISP) entity such as Comcast Cable, Qwest, SouthwesternBell, etc.), or (g) a wired/wireless services entity (e.g., Sprint,Cingular, Nextel, etc.), etc.

In certain cases, use of a system or method may occur in a territoryeven if components are located outside the territory. For example, in adistributed computing context, use of a distributed computing system mayoccur in a territory even though parts of the system may be locatedoutside of the territory (e.g., relay, server, processor, signal-bearingmedium, transmitting computer, receiving computer, etc. located outsidethe territory).

A sale of a system or method may likewise occur in a territory even ifcomponents of the system or method are located and/or used outside theterritory. Further, implementation of at least part of a system forperforming a method in one territory does not preclude use of the systemin another territory

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious embodiments described herein can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by various types of electro-mechanical systemshaving a wide range of electrical components such as hardware, software,firmware, and/or virtually any combination thereof, limited topatentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101; and a wide range ofcomponents that may impart mechanical force or motion such as rigidbodies, spring or torsional bodies, hydraulics, electro-magneticallyactuated devices, and/or virtually any combination thereof.Consequently, as used herein “electro-mechanical system” includes, butis not limited to, electrical circuitry operably coupled with atransducer (e.g., an actuator, a motor, a piezoelectric crystal, a MicroElectro Mechanical System (MEMS), etc.), electrical circuitry having atleast one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having atleast one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least oneapplication specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming ageneral purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g.,a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which atleast partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein,or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at leastpartially carries out processes and/or devices described herein),electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of memory(e.g., random access, flash, read only, etc.)), electrical circuitryforming a communications device (e.g., a modem, communications switch,optical-electrical equipment, etc.), and/or any non-electrical analogthereto, such as optical or other analogs (e.g., graphene basedcircuitry). Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that examplesof electro-mechanical systems include but are not limited to a varietyof consumer electronics systems, medical devices, as well as othersystems such as motorized transport systems, factory automation systems,security systems, and/or communication/computing systems. Those skilledin the art will recognize that electro-mechanical as used herein is notnecessarily limited to a system that has both electrical and mechanicalactuation except as context may dictate otherwise.

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious aspects described herein which can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware,and/or any combination thereof can be viewed as being composed ofvarious types of “electrical circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein“electrical circuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electricalcircuitry having at least one discrete electrical circuit, electricalcircuitry having at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitryhaving at least one application specific integrated circuit, electricalcircuitry forming a general purpose computing device configured by acomputer program (e.g., a general purpose computer configured by acomputer program which at least partially carries out processes and/ordevices described herein, or a microprocessor configured by a computerprogram which at least partially carries out processes and/or devicesdescribed herein), electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g.,forms of memory (e.g., random access, flash, read only, etc.)), and/orelectrical circuitry forming a communications device (e.g., a modem,communications switch, optical-electrical equipment, etc.). Those havingskill in the art will recognize that the subject matter described hereinmay be implemented in an analog or digital fashion or some combinationthereof.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that at least a portion of thedevices and/or processes described herein can be integrated into animage processing system. Those having skill in the art will recognizethat a typical image processing system generally includes one or more ofa system unit housing, a video display device, memory such as volatileor non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors or digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,drivers, applications programs, one or more interaction devices (e.g., atouch pad, a touch screen, an antenna, etc.), control systems includingfeedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing lensposition and/or velocity; control motors for moving/distorting lenses togive desired focuses). An image processing system may be implementedutilizing suitable commercially available components, such as thosetypically found in digital still systems and/or digital motion systems.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that at least a portion of thedevices and/or processes described herein can be integrated into a dataprocessing system. Those having skill in the art will recognize that adata processing system generally includes one or more of a system unithousing, a video display device, memory such as volatile or non-volatilememory, processors such as microprocessors or digital signal processors,computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphicaluser interfaces, and applications programs, one or more interactiondevices (e.g., a touch pad, a touch screen, an antenna, etc.), and/orcontrol systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g.,feedback for sensing position and/or velocity; control motors for movingand/or adjusting components and/or quantities). A data processing systemmay be implemented utilizing suitable commercially available components,such as those typically found in data computing/communication and/ornetwork computing/communication systems.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that at least a portion of thedevices and/or processes described herein can be integrated into a motesystem. Those having skill in the art will recognize that a typical motesystem generally includes one or more memories such as volatile ornon-volatile memories, processors such as microprocessors or digitalsignal processors, computational entities such as operating systems,user interfaces, drivers, sensors, actuators, applications programs, oneor more interaction devices (e.g., an antenna USB ports, acoustic ports,etc.), control systems including feedback loops and control motors(e.g., feedback for sensing or estimating position and/or velocity;control motors for moving and/or adjusting components and/orquantities). A mote system may be implemented utilizing suitablecomponents, such as those found in mote computing/communication systems.Specific examples of such components entail such as Intel Corporation'sand/or Crossbow Corporation's mote components and supporting hardware,software, and/or firmware.

For the purposes of this application, “cloud” computing may beunderstood as described in the cloud computing literature. For example,cloud computing may be methods and/or systems for the delivery ofcomputational capacity and/or storage capacity as a service. The “cloud”may refer to one or more hardware and/or software components thatdeliver or assist in the delivery of computational and/or storagecapacity, including, but not limited to, one or more of a client, anapplication, a platform, an infrastructure, and/or a server The cloudmay refer to any of the hardware and/or software associated with aclient, an application, a platform, an infrastructure, and/or a server.For example, cloud and cloud computing may refer to one or more of acomputer, a processor, a storage medium, a router, a switch, a modem, avirtual machine (e.g., a virtual server), a data center, an operatingsystem, a middleware, a firmware, a hardware back-end, a softwareback-end, and/or a software application. A cloud may refer to a privatecloud, a public cloud, a hybrid cloud, and/or a community cloud. A cloudmay be a shared pool of configurable computing resources, which may bepublic, private, semi-private, distributable, scaleable, flexible,temporary, virtual, and/or physical. A cloud or cloud service may bedelivered over one or more types of network, e.g., a mobilecommunication network, and the Internet.

As used in this application, a cloud or a cloud service may include oneor more of infrastructure-as-a-service (“IaaS”), platform-as-a-service(“PaaS”), software-as-a-service (“SaaS”), and/or desktop-as-a-service(“DaaS”). As a non-exclusive example, IaaS may include, e.g., one ormore virtual server instantiations that may start, stop, access, and/orconfigure virtual servers and/or storage centers (e.g., providing one ormore processors, storage space, and/or network resources on-demand,e.g., EMC and Rackspace). PaaS may include, e.g., one or more softwareand/or development tools hosted on an infrastructure (e.g., a computingplatform and/or a solution stack from which the client can createsoftware interfaces and applications, e.g., Microsoft Azure). SaaS mayinclude, e.g., software hosted by a service provider and accessible overa network (e.g., the software for the application and/or the dataassociated with that software application may be kept on the network,e.g., Google Apps, SalesForce). DaaS may include, e.g., providingdesktop, applications, data, and/or services for the user over a network(e.g., providing a multi-application framework, the applications in theframework, the data associated with the applications, and/or servicesrelated to the applications and/or the data over the network, e.g.,Citrix). The foregoing is intended to be exemplary of the types ofsystems and/or methods referred to in this application as “cloud” or“cloud computing” and should not be considered complete or exhaustive.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein describedcomponents (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussionaccompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptualclarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated.Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and theaccompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their moregeneral classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended tobe representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specificcomponents (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be takenlimiting.

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures may beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable,” to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents, and/or wirelessly interactable, and/or wirelesslyinteracting components, and/or logically interacting, and/or logicallyinteractable components.

To the extent that formal outline headings are present in thisapplication, it is to be understood that the outline headings are forpresentation purposes, and that different types of subject matter may bediscussed throughout the application (e.g., device(s)/structure(s) maybe described under process(es)/operations heading(s) and/orprocess(es)/operations may be discussed under structure(s)/process(es)headings; and/or descriptions of single topics may span two or moretopic headings). Hence, any use of formal outline headings in thisapplication is for presentation purposes, and is not intended to be inany way limiting.

Throughout this application, examples and lists are given, withparentheses, the abbreviation “e.g.,” or both. Unless explicitlyotherwise stated, these examples and lists are merely exemplary and arenon-exhaustive. In most cases, it would be prohibitive to list everyexample and every combination. Thus, smaller, illustrative lists andexamples are used, with focus on imparting understanding of the claimterms rather than limiting the scope of such terms.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations are not expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein describedcomponents (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussionaccompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptualclarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated.Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and theaccompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their moregeneral classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended tobe representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specificcomponents (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be takenlimiting.

Although user 105 is shown/described herein, e.g., in FIG. 1, and otherplaces, as a single illustrated figure, those skilled in the art willappreciate that user 105 may be representative of one or more humanusers, robotic users (e.g., computational entity), and/or substantiallyany combination thereof (e.g., a user may be assisted by one or morerobotic agents) unless context dictates otherwise. Those skilled in theart will appreciate that, in general, the same may be said of “sender”and/or other entity-oriented terms as such terms are used herein unlesscontext dictates otherwise.

In some instances, one or more components may be referred to herein as“configured to,” “configured by,” “configurable to,” “operable/operativeto,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,” etc.Those skilled in the art will recognize that such terms (e.g.“configured to”) generally encompass active-state components and/orinactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unlesscontext requires otherwise.

In known systems, devices that are associated with one or more users,e.g., phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, cars, game systems,appliances, and the like, may collect data regarding the user. This datamay be desired by third parties. The following describes, among otherimplementations, methods and systems of managing user data collected byone or more devices that may also be useful to entities that are not theuser, and which entities may not necessarily have access to the data.

Referring now to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment 100in which the methods, systems, circuitry, articles of manufacture, andcomputer program products and architecture, in accordance with variousembodiments, may be implemented by one or more computing devices 130. Asshown in FIG. 1A, one or more personal devices 120, one or more serviceproviders 170, one or more service developers 160, and one or morecomputing devices 30 may communicate via one or more communicationnetworks 140. In an embodiment, service provider 170 may have one ormore services that personal device 120 may want. In an embodiment,computing device 130, which may be a remote or local server, ordistributed set of servers, may manage data that is gathered, stored,controlled, accessed, restricted, monitored, under the control of,checked, examined, verified, authenticated, authorized, manipulated,updated, altered, filtered, or otherwise acted upon, whether passivelyor actively, by personal device 20. In an embodiment, as described inmore detail herein, computing device 130 may have access to some or allof the data on personal device 120. In another embodiment, computingdevice 130 may have access to only a portion of the data on personaldevice 120. In still another embodiment, computing device 130 may haveaccess to a modified version of the data on personal device 120.Specifically, in an embodiment, computing device 20 may have access tothe data stored on personal device 120, but in anonymous form.

In an embodiment, computing device 130 may offer one or more services topersonal device 120. In an embodiment, the offer of one or more servicesmay be conditional on a grant of access to part or all of the datastored and/or collected by personal device 120. In an embodiment,computing device 30 may receive one or more services from serviceprovider 170 and/or service developer 160, and may select one or more ofthe received services for presentation to the personal device 120. In anembodiment, the data from personal device 120 may be shared with one ormore of service provider 170 and service developer 160. In anembodiment, the data from personal device 120 may be anonymized prior tosharing with service developer 160 and/or service developer 170.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, FIG. 1A shows a personal device 120.Personal device 120 may be any electronic device, portable or not, thatmay be operated by or associated with one or more users. Personal device120 is shown as interacting with a user 105. As set forth above, user105 may be a person, or a group of people, or another entity that mimicsthe operations of a user. In some embodiments, user 105 may be acomputer or a computer-controlled device. Personal device 120 may be,but is not limited to, a cellular phone, a network phone, a smartphone,a tablet, a music player, a walkie-talkie, a radio, a USB drive, aportable solid state drive, a portable disc-type hard drive, anaugmented reality device (e.g., augmented reality glasses and/orheadphones), earphones, headphones, audio/visual equipment, mediaplayer, television, projection screen, flat screen, monitor, clock,appliance (e.g., microwave, convection oven, stove, refrigerator,freezer), a navigation system (e.g., a Global Positioning System (“GPS”)system), a medical alert device, a remote control, a peripheral, anelectronic safe, an electronic lock, an electronic security system, avideo camera, a personal video recorder, a personal audio recorder, andthe like.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, personal device 120 may include an operatingsystem 124. In this context, operating system 124 refers to anyhardware, software, firmware, and combination thereof which isconsidered at the core or baseline of a device. For example,applications that interact directly with hardware may be considered tobe part of an operating system. In some embodiments, operating system124 may be an FPGA, printed circuit board, or other wired device. In anembodiment, operating system 124 may include one or more of Google'sAndroid, Apple's iOS, Microsoft's Windows, various implementations ofLinux, and the like. In some embodiments, operating system 124 mayinclude a root menu for one or more televisions, stereo systems, mediaplayers, and the like. In some embodiments, operating system 124 may bea “home” screen of a device.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in an embodiment, personal device 20 mayinclude a user interface 123. User interface 123 may include anyhardware, software, firmware, and combination thereof that allow a user105 to interact with a personal device 120, and for a personal device120 to interact with a user 105. In some embodiments, user interface 123may include a monitor, screen, touchscreen, liquid crystal display(“LCD”) screen, light emitting diode (“LED”) screen, speaker, handset,earpiece, keyboard, keypad, touchpad, mouse, trackball, remote control,button set, microphone, video camera, still camera, a charge-coupleddevice (“CCD”) element, a photovoltaic element, and the like.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in some embodiments, personal device 120 mayinclude a device memory 126. In some embodiments, device memory 126 mayinclude memory, random access memory (“RAM”), read only memory (“ROM”),flash memory, hard drives, disk-based media, disc-based media, magneticstorage, optical storage, volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, and anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, device memory 126 may beseparated from the device, e.g., available on a different device on anetwork, or over the air. For example, in a networked system, there maybe many personal devices 120 whose device memory 126 is located at acentral server that may be a few feet away or located across an ocean.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in some embodiments, device memory 126 mayinclude one or more of protected data 126A and unprotected data 126B.Not all embodiments include each or both of these, but protected data126A and unprotected data 126B may be present in one or moreembodiments. Protected data 126A may include any data, including datastored on personal device 120, data for which personal device 120maintains at least partial control of, data for which personal device120 monitors or provides the ability to monitor, and the like, for whichsome form of authorization is required to access the data. Theauthorization may take any form and relate to any sub-unit, includingboth internally and externally to the device. For example, in anembodiment, protected data 126A may include data which is not availableto at least one application running on a computing device. For anotherexample, in an embodiment, protected data 126A may be available to oneapplication at any time, and to another application at specific times,or at times when the first application is not using the data. In anembodiment, protected data 126A includes data for which an applicationmust be authenticated (e.g., a Microsoft operating system certification,or a user flag set to true) in order to access the protected data 126A.

In an embodiment, protected data 126A includes data that a user, e.g.,user 105, cannot view until the user 105 verifies their identity, e.g.,through a password input or biometric identification. In an embodiment,protected data 126A is limited to the device, and is not transmitted toany other system not under the direct control of the personal device120. In an embodiment, protected data 126A is limited to the personaldevice 120, and only applications originating at the personal device120, or originating with the user 105, are allowed to read protecteddata 126A. In an embodiment, personal device 120 modifies or directs tobe modified protected data 126A, so at least a portion of the protecteddata 126A is altered or obscured. In an embodiment, personal device 120allows protected data 126A to be transmitted to an external entity underthe condition that the external entity will alter or obscure at least aportion of the protected data 126A.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in an embodiment, personal device 120 mayinclude device memory 126, which, in some embodiments, may includeunprotected data 26B. In an embodiment, unprotected data 126B may haveno protections or limitations. In another embodiment, unprotected data126B may have protections and limitations, but be less protected and/orless limited than protected data 126B. In an embodiment, unprotecteddata 126B is broadcasted or otherwise transmitted upon request. In anembodiment, unprotected data 126B cannot be accessed by an entityexternal to personal device 120 due to device design or other factors,but there is no specific protection on unprotected data 126B from accessby one or more entities external to personal device 20.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in an embodiment, personal device 120 mayinclude device interface component 128. In an embodiment, deviceinterface component 128 includes any component that allows the device tointeract with its environment. For example, in an embodiment, deviceinterface component 128 includes one or more sensors, e.g., a camera, amicrophone, an accelerometer, a thermometer, a satellite positioningsystem (SPS) sensor, a barometer, a humidity sensor, a compass, agyroscope, a magnetometer, a pressure sensor, an oscillation detector, alight sensor, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a tactile sensor, atouch sensor, a flexibility sensor, a microelectromechanical system(MEMS), a radio, including a wireless radio, a transmitter, a receiver,an emitter, a broadcaster, and the like. In an embodiment, deviceinterface component 128 also may include one or more user interfacecomponents, e.g., user interface 122 (e.g., although they are drawnseparately, in some embodiments, user interface 122 is a type of deviceinterface component 128), and in some embodiments including one or moreuser input receiving components and output presenting components.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in an embodiment, device interface component128 may include protected component 128A. Protected component 128A mayinclude any device interface component 128, of which some non-limitingexamples previously were enumerated, for which some form ofauthorization and/or authentication is required to access the data. Theauthorization may take any form and relate to any sub-unit, includingboth internally and externally to the device. In an embodiment,protected component 128A is similar to protected data 126A. For example,in an embodiment, a personal device 120, e.g., a smart phone, may havetwelve applications running on the smartphone. In an embodiment, six ofthose applications may have access to a protected component 128A, e.g.,a positioning sensor, and the other six may not. In some embodiments,data collected by a protected component 128A is part of the protectedcomponent 128A. In some embodiments, data collected by a protectedcomponent 128A becomes protected data 126A. In some embodiments, datacollected by a protected component 128A becomes protected data 126A someof the time, or none of the time. In some embodiments, data collected bya protected component 128A may be part of protected component 128A for aparticular amount of time, e.g., two weeks, and then may transition tounprotected data or data that is not considered protected orunprotected. In some embodiments, a protected component 128A may beaccessible to everyone at particular times and/or circumstances. Forexample, a protected component 128A, e.g., a wireless radio, may beaccessible to any entity between the hours of 7 and 8 pm, and onlyaccessible to specific entities and/or applications at other times. Insome embodiments, a protected component 128A, e.g., an image capturingcomponent, may be accessible to any entity when one or more conditionsare met, which conditions may or may not be related to the protectedcomponent 128A or the personal device 120, e.g., when the personaldevice 120 is at a particular location.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in some embodiments, computing device 30 mayinclude personal device interface module 132. In some embodiments,personal device interface module 132 may communicate with one or morepersonal devices 120. In some embodiments, personal device interfacemodule 132 may receive data 131 received from a personal device 120.Acquired personal device data 131 may include any data gathered frompersonal device 120, in any manner. In some embodiments, computingdevice 30 may request data from personal device 120. In someembodiments, computing device 30 may receive data from personal device120 on a schedule. In some embodiments, computing device 130 mayretrieve data from personal device 120 when certain conditions are met.In some embodiments, personal device 120 is broadcasting data, andcomputing device 130 gathers the broadcasted data. In some embodiments,personal device 120 broadcasts data that only computing device 130 canuse (e.g., decrypt, interpret, or the like). In some embodiments,personal device 120 may transmit acquired personal device data 131 tocomputing device 30 using one or more communication networks 140, whichwill be described in more detail herein.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in some embodiments, the acquired personaldevice data 131 may be anonymous data 131A. In an embodiment, anonymousdata refers to data from which the origin of the data cannot be uniquelyidentified. In some embodiments, the origin of the data may refer to thepersonal device 120, e.g., a unique identifier, e.g., a MAC address. Insome embodiments, the origin of the data may refer to a user 105associated with the data, either through ownership, use, or otherrelationship with the device, e.g., a username, a user's name, or auser's social security or other identifying number, or network addressor identification. It is noted that, in some embodiments, the device maybe able to recognize the origin of the data, e.g., an identity ofpersonal device 120, that is transmitting the data due to the nature ofthe data transmission, but be unable to deduce the origin of the datathrough the data itself, in which case, in some embodiments, this datais still considered anonymous data 131A.

Anonymous data 131A may include data for which uniquely identifyinginformation has been removed, or data for which uniquely identifyinginformation has been concealed, obscured, made uncertain, madeambiguous, screened, camouflaged, masked, veiled, shrouded, hidden,encoded, encrypted, or otherwise altered. In some embodiments, thereceived anonymous data 131A never included uniquely identifyinginformation. In some embodiments, anonymous data 131A may partially ornon-uniquely identify its origin, e.g., the user 105 or the personaldevice 120 from which the anonymous data came. In some embodiments,uniquely identifying information may be extracted from anonymous data131A using additional information, e.g., a lookup table, hash, or otherknown algorithm. In some embodiments, uniquely identifying informationmay be deduced from anonymous data 131A without additional information.In some embodiments, uniquely identifying information may not beretrieved from anonymous data 131A once the data is in its anonymousformat.

In an embodiment, acquired personal device data 131 may includenon-anonymous data 131B. In some embodiments, non-anonymous data 131Bmay identify, either explicitly or implicitly, the origin of the data.In some embodiments, the origin of the data may refer to the personaldevice 120, e.g., a unique identifier, e.g., a MAC address. In someembodiments, the origin of the data may refer to a user 105 associatedwith the data, either through ownership, use, or other relationship withthe device, e.g., a username, a user's name, or a user's social securityor other identifying number, or network address or identification.

Referring to FIGS. 1A-1D, data anonymization systems and methods areillustrated. Although these systems and methods are illustrated as partof computing device 130, this is merely for convenience of drawing. Inan embodiment, one or more of data de-anonymization information storingmodule 135, data anonymizer module 134A, and data obscuring module 134Bmay be located within personal device 120. In an embodiment, thesemodules may interact directly with device memory 126. In an embodiment,as pictured in FIG. 1A, computing device 130 may include a dataanonymizer module 134A that converts non-anonymous data 131B intoanonymized data, in a process described in more detail with respect toFIGS. 1C and 1D. In an embodiment, depending on the type ofanonymization, there may be additional data that can be used to returnthe anonymized data into non-anonymous data, e.g., a lookup table. Insome such embodiments, the additional data, e.g., de-anonymization data,may be stored in data de-anonymization information storing module 135.

Referring again to FIGS. 1A-1D, in an embodiment, computing device 130may include a data obscuring module 134B. For example, in an embodiment,data obscuring module 134B may obscure the non-anonymous data 131B,similarly to the data anonymizer module 134A. For example, in anembodiment, data obscuring module 134B may apply data masking. In anembodiment, data obscuring module 134B may obscure by addition, e.g., byadding false identification information to the true identificationinformation, so that the false identification information may not bedistinguished from the true identification information. Datade-anonymization information storing module 135, data anonymizer module134A, and data obscuring module 134B may be absent in some embodiments.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in an embodiment, computing device 130 mayinclude service developer interface module 136. Service developerinterface module 136 may communicate with service developer 160, e.g.,via communication network 140. Specifically, in an embodiment, servicedeveloper interface module 136 may provide limited information regardingthe acquired personal device data 131. In an embodiment, for example,service developer interface module 136 may provide information toservice developer 160 regarding the type of data collected. In anembodiment, for example, service developer interface module 136 mayprovide information to service developer 160 regarding an aggregatesynopsis of the data collected. In an embodiment, service developer 160may receive such information and make a decision about what types ofservices to develop, e.g., using development decision module 162.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in an embodiment, computing device 130 mayinclude service provider interface module 138. In an embodiment, serviceprovider interface module 138 may communicate with service provider 170,e.g., via communication network 140.

In an embodiment, service provider interface module 138 may include datarights management module 138A. In an embodiment, data rights managementmodule 138A may keep track of which services have rights to whichpersonal device data. For example, in an embodiment, service 172A mayhave rights to certain anonymous data 131A. For another example, in anembodiment, service 172B may have rights to data that has been processedthrough the data anonymizer 134A.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in an embodiment, service provider interfacemodule 138 may include service information module 138B. Serviceinformation module 138B may include a list of services that are providedfrom service provider 170, so that such information may be delivered topersonal device 120, in an embodiment. In an embodiment, computingdevice 130 may present one or more of the services listed in serviceinformation module 138B to personal device 120, either upon request, orupon detecting that personal device 120 may be interested in one or moreof the services.

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in an embodiment, service provider 170 mayprovide services to a personal device 120. In an embodiment, theseservices may be delivered to directly to personal device 120. In anembodiment, service provider 170 has limited or no communication withpersonal device 120, and communication is handled through anintermediary, e.g., computing device 130. In an embodiment, computingdevice 130 handles the delivery of services and data between serviceprovider 170 and personal device 120 such that protected data 126A andprotected component 128A are protected from service provider 170, butthat service provider 170 can still provide services, e.g., service 172Aand service 172B, to personal device 120. In an embodiment, serviceprovider 170 includes a list of services management module 174 thatmaintains a list of services to present to computing device 130, e.g.,to allow service information module 138B of computing device 130 tomaintain information about various services.

In various embodiments, the communication network 140 may include one ormore of a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), apersonal area network (PAN), a Worldwide Interoperability for MicrowaveAccess (WiMAX), public switched telephone network (PTSN), a generalpacket radio service (GPRS) network, a cellular network, and so forth.The communication networks 140 may be wired, wireless, or a combinationof wired and wireless networks. It is noted that “communication network”as used herein and in the drawings refers to one or more communicationnetworks, which may or may not interact with each other and which, insome embodiments, may work in concert, wittingly or unwittingly, tofacilitate communication between one or more entities.

Referring now to FIG. 1C, an embodiment may include a personal device120A and a personal device 120B. Personal device 120A may generatenon-anonymous data 144A, and personal device 120B may generatenon-anonymous data 144B. Non anonymous data 144A and non-anonymous data144B may be transmitted to computing device 130A, which may be anon-exclusive and non-limiting example of computing device 130. In anembodiment, computing device 130A may include a data anonymizer module134A. In an embodiment, data anonymizer module 134A may includeirreversible anonymizer module 137A, which generates anonymous data thatis irreversible, e.g., in an example, the identifying data has beenremoved. In an embodiment, data anonymizer module 134A may includecollective anonymizer module 137B, which may take the non-anonymous data144A and the non-anonymous data 144B and create an aggregated, generalanonymous data, as shown FIG. 1C. In an embodiment, data anonymizermodule 134A may include reversible anonymizer module 137C, which may usea private lookup table 135A to convert the non-anonymous data intoanonymous data. In an embodiment, that private lookup table 135A may bestored in the data-deanonymization information storing module 135.

Referring now to FIG. 1D, in an embodiment, a computing device 130B mayhave a data anonymizer 134A that may apply an anonymizing function 132A,as shown in FIG. 1D. For example, an anonymizing function may use acryptographic method, a perturbation method, a DataFly algorithm,top-down specialization, and/or Mondarian multi-dimensional k-anonymity,as non-limiting and non-exclusive examples. In another embodiment, adata obscuring module 134B obscures the non-anonymous data. In anembodiment, the obscuring may be accomplished by adding similar-lookingand plausible “false” data to the actual identifying data, so thatlater, the true data cannot be determined merely by looking at the data.In an embodiment, the anonymized data may be used by the serviceprovider interface module 38 to give data to the service provider 170,either to carry out a portion of a service, or to determine whichservices may be useful to one or more personal devices 120.

The examples shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D are merely examples of how a dataanonymizer might be implemented, and are not intended to be limiting orexclusive. There are many other techniques for anonymizing the data,some of which will be mentioned herein.

Referring now to FIG. 1E, FIG. 1E shows an embodiment of the inventionfocusing on a service provider 170 and a computing device 130C.Computing device 130C may receive data from one or more devices, andthat data may be anonymized already, or may not be anonymized, or mayalready be obscured. In an embodiment, computing device 130C maygenerate obscured data from the data received from one or more devices,whether received directly from the one or more devices, or indirectlyfrom another source. In an embodiment, Computing device 130C may obscurereceived data, even if the received data is already anonymized. Inanother embodiment, computing device 130C may not perform additionalsteps on previously anonymized or obscured data.

Referring again to FIG. 1E, in an embodiment, computing device 130C mayrequest one or more services 190 that may be executed on one or moredevices. The one or more services may be performed independently by theone or more devices, or may be performed with facilitation of one ormore portions of the services by computing device 130C. Computing device130C may request that service provider 170 provide one or more servicesthat can be presented to the one or more devices. In an embodiment,computing device 130C may transmit obscured data 185 to service provider170. This transmission may take place via any form of network, e.g.,communication network 140 (not pictured in FIG. 1E). In an embodiment,service provider 170 may be integral with computing device 130C. In anembodiment, service provider 170 and computing device 130C may be underthe control of a single entity.

Referring again to FIG. 1E, in an embodiment, service provider 170 mayreceive the obscured data 185. The obscured data 185 may be in anyformat, as described in several examples herein. The examplesillustrated in FIG. 1E and in the following figures are intended forease of understanding only, and should not be considered an exhaustiveor an exclusive enumeration of ways that data may be obscured. Forexample, in an embodiment, irreversible anonymous data 185A may beobscured by deleting the device origin information from the data, suchthat the data cannot be recovered using the irreversible anonymous data185A. In order to obtain the original device information that formed theirreversible anonymous data 185A, a copy of the original data may beretrieved. For example, in an embodiment, computing device 130C maystore a separate copy of the data that resulted in the irreversibleanonymous data 185A, with uniquely identifying device informationpresent in the copy kept by computing device 130C.

In an embodiment, obscured data 185 may include reversible anonymousdata 185B. Data 185B is not limited to a particular type of format, buta simple example is shown. In the example, the device identifiers of theone or more personal devices 120A and 120B, e.g., 00123 and 00124, areconverted to new identifiers XYZ and YYZ (e.g., as shown in FIG. 1C),which, in an embodiment, may prevent service provider 170 from learningthe identity of devices 00123 and 00124. In an embodiment, reversibleanonymous data 185B may be converted into data that uniquely identifiesone or more devices, through the providing of one or more algorithms,lookup tables, keys, encryption keys, hash functions, and the like.

In an embodiment, obscured data 185 may include general anonymous data185C. In an embodiment, this type of data may include any format ofaggregated data which gives information about one or more devices, butdoes not particularly identify the one or more devices that led to theaggregate information. For example, general anonymous data 185C mayinclude such data as “thirty-five devices with more than twenty contactsin a contact list found,” or more specific data, such as “thirty-fivesmartphones, e.g., Apple iPhone 4S running iOS 6.0, with more than 2.0gigabytes of space remaining, with more than twenty contacts in acontact list found.”

Referring again to FIG. 1E, in an embodiment, service provider 170 mayreceive obscured data 185, as shown in FIG. 1E. In an embodiment,service provider 170 may include an obscured data analyzer module 173.Obscured data analyzer module 173 may receive the obscured data 185 anduse the obscured data 185 to determine one or more services or types ofservices that may be useful to the devices referenced in the obscureddata 185. Obscured data analyzer module 173 may be completely automated,or may have some human intervention in the process. In an embodiment,obscured data analyzer 173 may obtain obscured data 185 from severaldifferent computing devices 130C, which may allow service provider 170to provide one or more services more efficiently. In an embodiment,service provider 170 may include service management module 174. Servicemanagement module 174 may include existing service analyzing module 174Aand new service generation module 174B. Existing service analyzingmodule 174A and new service generation module 174B may work together orseparately, and with or without obscured data analyzer module 173, todetermine if a service exists that meets the needs determined based onthe received obscured data. If such a service does not exist, then newservice generation module 174B may generate a new service, either byrequesting from a third party, requesting human intervention, e.g.,human programming of a new service, or may generate a new serviceautomatically.

In an embodiment, service provider 170 may include a servicetransmission module 175, which may transmit one or more services 186back to the computing device 130C, e.g., to service receiving module138B, which, in an embodiment, may be a portion of service providerinterface module 138. In various embodiments, once one or more actionsare taken with respect to receiving the one or more services 186,deobscuring data 187, which may be data that can deobscure the obscureddata 185, may be transmitted to the service provider 170, e.g., to datadeobscuring module 176 of service provider 170. In an embodiment,deobscuring data 187 is combined with obscured data 185 to result indeobscured data. In another embodiment, deobscuring data 187 does notneed to be combined with obscured data 185 in order to result in thedeobscured data. In an embodiment, deobscuring data 187 may betransmitted upon receipt of one or more services 186. In anotherembodiment, one or more actions related to one or more services 186,e.g., proposing the one or more services to one or more devices, may becarried out prior to transmitting the deobscuring data 187. In anembodiment, if a particular number of users do not use one or moreservices 186, then computing device 130C may not transfer deobscuringdata 187.

Referring now to FIG. 1F, FIG. 1F shows an embodiment of the inventionas shown in exemplary embodiment 100″″. For example, FIG. 1F showscomputing device 130D interacting with personal device 120. In anembodiment, computing device 130D receives device data 188 from personaldevice 120. Although FIG. 1F shows this transfer as coming directly frompersonal device 120, in an embodiment, computing device 130D may receivedevice data 188 from any source, including a third device, acommunication network, a social networking site, a device manufacturer,and the like. In an embodiment, computing device 130D monitors one ormore personal devices 120 for device data 188. In an embodiment,computing device 130D monitors one or more other sources for device data188 regarding personal devices 120.

In an embodiment, device data 188 may include data that personal device120 has collected. In an embodiment, the device data 188 may be modifiedto obscure an identity of the device 120 or a user of the device 120. Inan embodiment, the device data 188 is not obscured. In an embodiment,device data 188 may be about data that is stored on device 120 orotherwise under the control of personal device 120, rather than beingthe actual data under the control of personal device 120. For example,as shown in FIG. 1F, personal device 120 may include protected data126A, which, in an embodiment, may include the last thirty locationsvisited by personal device 120. In an embodiment, device data 188 mayinclude the last thirty locations visited by personal device 120. Inanother embodiment, device data 188 may include an indication thatpersonal device 120 has thirty device locations stored in its memory. Inan embodiment, device data 188 may include an indication that personaldevice 120 has thirty device locations stored in its memory, and 20 ofthose locations are locations for which an interest has been expressedby an entity in communication with computing device 130D.

Referring again to FIG. 1F, in an embodiment, computing device 130D mayinclude personal device interface module 132. Personal device interfacemodule 132 may include data value monitoring module 132A. In anembodiment, data value monitoring module 132A may receive informationregarding which types of data are valuable (e.g., location data, orlocation data indicating that a device is inside Times Square on NewYears' Eve, and the like), and may monitor one or more devices and otherlocations for one or more indications that a personal device 120 hasdata estimated to be valuable, and whether that data is protected. In anembodiment, personal device interface module may include deviceinformation receiving module 132B configured to receive device data 188.Device data 188 may have any number of formats, as described above, andas shown by way of non-limiting example in the examples given furtherherein.

Referring again to FIG. 1F, in an embodiment, computing device 130D mayinclude device monitoring module 132C. In an embodiment, devicemonitoring module 132C may monitor one or more personal devices 120through any monitoring technique. In an embodiment, device monitoringmodule 132C may include software, hardware, or firmware associated withpersonal device 120, that may be configured to report back to devicemonitoring module 132C at particular intervals. In an embodiment, devicemonitoring module 132C may monitor personal device 120 through one ormore communication networks 140 (not pictured), and may communicatedirectly with personal device 120. In an embodiment, device monitoringmodule 132C may monitor personal device 120 through indirect means,e.g., through other devices or systems that may be used by personaldevice 120.

Referring again to FIG. 1F, in an embodiment, personal device interfacemodule 132 may include service offering module 132D. For example, asdescribed previously, computing device 130D may acquire one or moreservices. These services may be presented to personal device 120, eitherfor presentation to a user, or for an automated decision regardingwhether to accept the services. In an embodiment, the one or moreservices 188 may require access to protected data, e.g., protected data126A of the personal device 120, or one or more protected components,e.g., protected component 128A of personal device 120, or both. In anembodiment, computing device 130D may facilitate the presentation of theone or more services to a user 105 of the personal device 120, via thepersonal device 120.

Referring again to FIG. 1B, FIG. 1B shows a more detailed description ofcomputing device 130. In an embodiment, computing device 130 may includea processor 110. Processor 110 may include one or more microprocessors,Central Processing Units (“CPU”), a Graphics Processing Units (“GPU”),Physics Processing Units, Digital Signal Processors, Network Processors,Floating Point Processors, and the like. In some embodiments, processor110 may be a server. In some embodiments, processor 110 may be adistributed-core processor. Although processor 110 is as a singleprocessor that is part of a single computing device 130, processor 110may be multiple processors distributed over one or many computingdevices 130, which may or may not be configured to operate together.Processor 110 is illustrated as being configured to execute computerreadable instructions in order to execute one or more operationsdescribed above, and as illustrated in FIGS. 6, 7A-7B, 8A-8C, 9A-9C, and10A-10E. In some embodiments, processor 122 is designed to be configuredto operate as processing module 150, which may include one or more ofdevice attribute data related to one or more device attributes obtainingmodule 152, anonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute datato obscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the deviceattribute data generating module 154 anonymized data presentation to oneor more entities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module 156, and one or more entity-obtained device basedservices at least partly based on anonymized data acquiring module 158.

In an embodiment, computing device 130 may include a device memory 116.In some embodiments, memory 116 may comprise of one or more of one ormore mass storage devices, read-only memory (ROM), programmableread-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),cache memory such as random access memory (RAM), flash memory,synchronous random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory(DRAM), and/or other types of memory devices. In some embodiments,memory 116 may be located at a single network site. In some embodiments,memory 116 may be located at multiple network sites, including sitesthat are distant from each other.

Referring now to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary implementationof the device attribute data related to one or more device attributesobtaining module 152. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the device attributedata related to one or more device attributes obtaining module mayinclude one or more sub-logic modules in various alternativeimplementations and embodiments. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, e.g.,FIG. 2A, in some embodiments, module 152 may include one or more ofdevice contact list data related to a contact list attribute of a deviceobtaining module 202, device attribute data related to one or moredevice attributes receiving module 208, device attribute data related toone or more device attributes collecting module 214, device datacommunication via network monitoring module 216, and attribute datarelated to one or more device attributes collecting through monitoringcommunication by the one or more devices over a communication networkmodule 218. In some embodiments, module 202 may include one or more ofcontact list size data describing a number of contacts stored in acontact list of a device obtaining module 204 and contact list size datadescribing a number of contacts stored in a contact list of a devicethat have both an email address and a telephone number obtaining module206. In some embodiments, module 208 may include one or more of deviceattribute data related to one or more device attributes receiving fromthe one or more devices module 210 and device attribute data related toone or more device attributes receiving from a social networking sitemodule 212.

Referring again to FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2B, in some embodiments, module152 may include one or more of device attribute data related to a statusof one or more devices obtaining module 220, device attribute datarelated to a characteristic of one or more devices obtaining module 226,device sensor attribute data related to a presence of one or moresensors on more devices obtaining module 232, and device criterion datarelated to number of devices that meet one or more criteria obtainingmodule 234. In some embodiments, module 220 may include device attributedata related to an environment-dependent property of one or more devicesobtaining module 222. In some embodiments, module 222 may include devicelocation data related to a present location of one or more devicesobtaining module 224. In some embodiments, module 226 may include deviceattribute data related to an environment-independent property of one ormore devices obtaining module 228. In some embodiments, module 228 mayinclude device contact list data related to an amount of memory taken upby a contact list stored on one or more devices obtaining module 230. Insome embodiments, module 234 may include device image capturingcriterion data indicating a number of devices have an image capturingsensor having at least a resolution of five megapixels obtaining module236.

Referring now to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary implementationof anonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 154. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the anonymizeddata formed by modifying acquired attribute data to obscure a deviceand/or user identifying portion of the device attribute data generatingmodule 154 may include one or more sub-logic modules in variousalternative implementations and embodiments. For example, as shown inFIG. 3 (e.g., FIG. 3A), in some embodiments, module 154 may include oneor more of anonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute dataincluding one or more contact lists and one or more deviceidentification numbers of one or more devices, to obscure a deviceand/or user identifying portion of the device attribute data generatingmodule 302 (e.g., which, in some embodiments, may include anonymizeddata formed by modifying acquired attribute data including one or morecontact lists and one or more device identification numbers of one ormore devices, by substituting a particular character of the deviceidentification number with a different character, to obscure a deviceand/or user identifying portion of the device attribute data generatingmodule 304), anonymized data formed by altering acquired attribute datato obscure a device identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module 306, anonymized data formed by altering acquiredattribute data to obscure a device user identifying portion of thedevice attribute data generating module 308, anonymized data formed bydeleting at least a portion of acquired attribute data to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module 310, and anonymized data formed by aggregating atleast a portion of acquired attribute data to obscure a device and/oruser identifying portion of the device attribute data generating module312.

Referring again to FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3B, as described above, in someembodiments, module 154 may include module 308. In some embodiments,module 308 may include one or more of anonymized data formed bymodifying acquired attribute data to remove a link between a deviceidentification portion of the acquired attribute data and an otherportion of the acquired attribute data, to obscure a device and/or useridentifying portion of the device attribute data generating module 314,anonymized data formed by adding acquired attribute data to previouslyacquired property data and removing specific relational informationbetween the one or more devices and the acquired attribute data, toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 316, anonymized data formed by encrypting atleast a portion of acquired attribute data to obscure a device and/oruser identifying portion of the device attribute data generating module318, anonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data using areversible data transformation algorithm to obscure a device and/or useridentifying portion of the device attribute data generating module 320,and anonymized data formed by replacing a portion of the acquiredattribute data with a lookup table value, to obscure a device and/oruser identifying portion of the device attribute data generating module322.

Referring again to FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3C, in some embodiments, module154 may include one or more of anonymized data formed by replacing atleast a portion of the acquired attribute data with random data, toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 324, anonymized data formed by replacing at leasta portion of the acquired attribute data with false random data, toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 326, and anonymized data formed by replacing atleast a portion of the acquired attribute data with data having aparticular obscuring format, to obscure a device and/or user identifyingportion of the device attribute data generating module 328.

Referring now to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary implementationof anonymized data presentation to one or more entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services facilitating module 156. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, the anonymized data presentation to one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module 156 may include one or more sub-logic modules invarious alternative implementations and embodiments. For example, asshown in FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4A, in some embodiments, module 156 mayinclude one or more of anonymized data presentation to one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based services for oneor more devices having more than a predetermined number of contacts in adevice contact list facilitating module 402, anonymized datatransmission to one or more entities configured to obtain one or moredevice-based services facilitating module 408, and anonymized datapresentation via a visual exchange interface to one or more entitiesconfigured to obtain one or more device-based services facilitatingmodule 410. In some embodiments, module 402 may include anonymized datadisplaying to one or more entities configured to obtain one or moredevice contact list-based services for one or more devices having morethan a predetermined number of contacts in a device contact listfacilitating module 404. In some embodiments, module 404 may includeanonymized data displaying to one or more entities configured to obtaina friend-finding contact list-based service for one or more deviceshaving more than a predetermined number of contacts in a device contactlist facilitating module 406. In some embodiments, module 410 mayinclude one or more of anonymized data presentation via a visualexchange interface designed for one or more service providing entitiesto the one or more service providing entities configured to obtain oneor more device-based services facilitating module and anonymized datapresentation via an interactive visual exchange interface to one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module 414.

Referring again to FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4B, in some embodiments, module156 may include one or more of anonymized data offer for saletransmission to one or more entities configured to obtain one or moredevice-based services facilitating module 416, anonymized datapresentation in a bid auction format to one or more entities configuredto obtain one or more device-based services facilitating module 418, oneor more entities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesrequest for particular anonymized data receiving module 420, anonymizeddata suitability for fulfilling request for particular anonymized datadetermining module 422, at least a portion of anonymized datatransmitting in response to request for particular anonymized datamodule 424, and anonymized data presentation to one or more entitiesthat previously registered to receive anonymized data and are configuredto obtain one or more device-based services facilitating module 426. Insome embodiments, module 426 may include anonymized data presentation toone or more entities that previously registered to receive anonymizeddata having a particular property and are configured to obtain one ormore device-based services facilitating module 428. In some embodiments,module 428 may include anonymized data presentation to one or moreentities that previously registered to receive anonymized data collectedfrom one or more devices having more than a particular number ofpictures stored on the one or more devices and are configured to obtainone or more device-based services facilitating module 430.

Referring again to FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4C, in some embodiments, module156 may include one or more of anonymized data request from one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesreceiving module 432, one or more entities configured to obtain one ormore device-based services that requested anonymized data selectingmodule 434 (e.g., which, in some embodiments, may include one or more ofone or more entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices that requested anonymized data selecting at least partly basedon entity prior relationship module 436 and one or more entitiesconfigured to obtain one or more device-based services that requestedanonymized data selecting at least partly based on entity prior serviceobtained module 438), portion of anonymized data transmission to one ormore entities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module 440, and remainder of anonymized data transmissionto one or more entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices facilitating in response to a received indication from the oneor more entities requesting the remainder of anonymized data module 442.

Referring now to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary implementationof anonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 158. As illustrated in FIG. 5. e.g., FIG. 5A, theanonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module 158 may include one or more sub-logic modules invarious alternative implementations and embodiments. For example, insome embodiments, module 158 may include one or more of entity-obtaineddevice based service for sorting device photographs, said service atleast partly based on anonymized data acquiring module 502 and one ormore entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data receiving module 508. In some embodiments, module 502may include one or more of entity-obtained device based service forsorting device photographs, said service at least partly based onanonymized data indicating a presence of a particular number of devicephotographs acquiring module 504 and entity-obtained device basedservice for sorting device photographs, said service at least partlybased on anonymized data indicating a presence of a particular number ofdevices equipped with a camera acquiring module 506.

Referring again to FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5B, in some embodiments, module158 may include one or more of determining whether one or more servicesare present by polling one or more entities configured to provide one ormore device-based services module 510 and determined one or moreservices acquiring from the polled one or more entities module 512. Insome embodiments, module 512 may include one or more of determined oneor more services acquiring from the polled one or more entities, atleast partly based on one or more device features related to the one ormore device-based services module 514. In some embodiments, module 514may include determined one or more services acquiring from the polledone or more entities, at least partly based on one or more deviceportions deemed valuable to which the one or more device-based servicesrequire access module 516. In some embodiments, module 516 may includedetermined one or more services acquiring from the polled one or moreentities, at least partly based on one or more device portionsindicating information regarding a position of the device that is deemedvaluable, to which the one or more device-based services require accessmodule 518. In some embodiments, module 518 may include determined oneor more services acquiring from the polled one or more entities, atleast partly based on one or more device portions indicating informationregarding a position of the device that is deemed valuable for a purposeof targeted advertising, to which the one or more device-based servicesrequire access module 520.

Referring again to FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5C, in some embodiments, module158 may include one or more of one or more entity-obtained device basedservices at least partly based on anonymized data receiving module 522,received one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data selecting module 524, one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data information regarding the service acquiring module 530,and deanonymization data configured to uniquely identify one or moredevices offering in exchange for receiving the particular one or moreentity-obtained device based services for which information was acquiredmodule 532. In some embodiments, module 524 may include received one ormore entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data selecting at least partly based on analysis ofanonymized data module 526. In some embodiments, module 526 may includereceived one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data selecting at least partly based onanalysis of anonymized data indicating that web browsing historyassociated with a particular device may be obtained module 528.

Referring again to FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5D, in some embodiments, module158 may include one or more entity-obtained device based services atleast partly based on anonymized data acquiring by offeringdeanonymization data configured to uniquely identify the device module534. In some embodiments, module 534 may include one or more of one ormore entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data to aparticular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to uniquely identify the device module536 and permission to offer one or more entity-obtained device basedservices at least partly based on anonymized data acquiring by offeringdeanonymization data configured to uniquely identify the device module544. In some embodiments, module 536 may include one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data to aparticular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to transform the anonymized data intodata uniquely identifying the device module 538. In some embodiments,module 538 may include one or more of one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data acquiring byoffering deanonymization data to a particular entity that generated aparticular service, said deanonymization data configured to decrypt theanonymized data into data uniquely identifying the device module 540 andone or more entity-obtained device based services at least partly basedon anonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data to aparticular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to substituting the anonymized data fordata uniquely identifying the device module 542.

Referring again to FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5E, in some embodiments, module158 may include one or more of one or more entity-obtained device basedservices at least partly based on anonymized data indicating a type ofthe device acquiring module 546, one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data indicating acondition present on the device acquiring module 548, one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data indicating a particular amount of data stored on thedevice acquiring module 550, and one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data indicating aparticular environment surrounding the device acquiring module 552.

Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations. For easeof understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that the initialflowcharts present implementations via an example implementation andthereafter the following flowcharts present alternate implementationsand/or expansions of the initial flowchart(s) as either sub-componentoperations or additional component operations building on one or moreearlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art willappreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g.,beginning with a presentation of a flowchart(s) presenting an exampleimplementation and thereafter providing additions to and/or furtherdetails in subsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easyunderstanding of the various process implementations. In addition, thoseskilled in the art will further appreciate that the style ofpresentation used herein also lends itself well to modular and/orobject-oriented program design paradigms.

Further, in FIG. 6 and in the figures to follow thereafter, variousoperations may be depicted in a box-within-a-box manner. Such depictionsmay indicate that an operation in an internal box may comprise anoptional example embodiment of the operational step illustrated in oneor more external boxes. However, it should be understood that internalbox operations may be viewed as independent operations separate from anyassociated external boxes and may be performed in any sequence withrespect to all other illustrated operations, or may be performedconcurrently. Still further, these operations illustrated in FIG. 6-10as well as the other operations to be described herein may be performedby at least one of a machine, an article of manufacture, or acomposition of matter.

The following examples are provided merely as illustrations of howvarious embodiments may be implemented. None of the following examplesare intended to be limiting, and all of the examples listed herein maybe combined with portions of other examples listed herein, to the extentsuch combinations are not logically inconsistent. Because of spacelimitations, each example is not written out each time it is possible toimplement that example. Therefore, unless explicitly otherwise stated,each example should be understood to encompass every other examplelisted both before and after the instant example, and can be combinedwith any or all portions of other examples. Each example is not intendedto be limited to a single claim or set of claims, but is ratherexemplary of how one or more embodiments may be carried out. Nothing inthe following should be interpreted as limiting any claim or enumeratingan exhaustive list of how one or more claimed embodiments can be carriedout.

Referring now to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 shows operation 600, which may includeoperation 602 depicting acquiring property data regarding at least oneproperty of one or more devices. For example, FIG. 1, e.g., FIG. 1B,shows anonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 152 acquiring (e.g., receiving, retrieving,picking up, creating, generating, intercepting, reading, hearing,detecting, and the like) property data (e.g., data about one or moreproperties, e.g., whether environment-dependent or environmentindependent, including, but not limited to, one or more of a status,characteristic, snapshot, feature, index, brand, configuration,attribute, algorithm, format, mode, flag setting, variable, datastructure, and the like) regarding at least one property (e.g., anyattribute of a device or any of the hardware, software, firmware, andthe like, whether static or dynamic, permanent or temporary, whetherdependent on a user of the device or not, and in an embodiment, mayreflect entirely on the user or one or more actions taken out by theuser) of one or more devices (e.g., a cellular phone, smart phone, IPphone, VoIP phone, handset, microphone, camera (e.g., video camera,still camera, digital camera, and the like), headphone, earpiece,screen, monitor, television, game system, receiver (e.g., anaudio/visual receiver), media player (e.g., DVD player, Blu-ray player,CD player, MP3 player, cassette tape player), tablet device, netbookcomputer, notebook computer, router, wireless router, bridge, networkequipment, server, desktop computer, personal computer, personalcomputer component (e.g., RAM, hard drive, video card, and the like),personal navigation system, vehicle navigation system, motor vehicle,motor vehicle stereo, motor vehicle control system, motor vehiclecommunication system (e.g., OnStar), appliance, security system (e.g., ahome security system), electronic safety device (e.g., an electronicsafe, a door security system, a door locking system), stereo system,speaker, remote control (e.g., a universal remote control, or a deviceremote control), radio, two-way radio, walkie-talkie, ham radio, a metaldetector, a radar detector, a weather station, a robot (e.g., a Roomba),a vacuum cleaner, and the like).

Referring again to FIG. 6, operation 600 may include operation 604depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata to obscure one or more portions of the acquired property data thatuniquely identify the one or more devices and/or one or more users ofthe one or more devices. For example, FIG. 1, e.g., FIG. 1B, showsgenerating (e.g., creating, obtaining, instructing to create, causing tocreate, or otherwise originate or cause to be originated) anonymizeddata (e.g., data that does not uniquely identify one or more of a deviceand/or a device of the user, whether because that data is not there, isunreadable (e.g., encrypted), is altered, protected, or prevented frombeing accessed, deleted, and the like, or was never present, or has beenaggregated or changed to disguise or camouflage specificity) by altering(e.g., modifying, changing, mutating, modifying, deleting from, addingto, encrypting, decrypting, compressing, expanding, combining,packaging, aggregating, reconstructing, modulating, adjusting, and thelike) the acquired property data (e.g., data about one or moreproperties, e.g., whether environment-dependent or environmentindependent, including, but not limited to, one or more of a status,characteristic, snapshot, feature, index, brand, configuration,attribute, algorithm, format, mode, flag setting, variable, datastructure, and the like) to obscure (e.g., to make more difficult tocomprehend, in this example, to make it more difficult to comprehend aportion of the data that uniquely identifies the device, through anyoperation that results in different data than what was started) one ormore portions of the acquired property data (e.g., data about one ormore properties, e.g., whether environment-dependent or environmentindependent, including, but not limited to, one or more of a status,characteristic, snapshot, feature, index, brand, configuration,attribute, algorithm, format, mode, flag setting, variable, datastructure, and the like) that uniquely identify (e.g., information thatwould specifically identify the device, or a user of the device, e.g., aMAC address, an IP address, whether static or dynamic, a server name,login information for one or more web sites, social networking sites,marketplaces, and the like) the one or more devices (e.g., any of thelist of devices mentioned previously) and/or users of the one or moredevices.

Referring again to FIG. 5, operation 600 may include operation 606depicting presenting the anonymized data to one or more serviceproviders configured to generate one or more services. For example. FIG.1, e.g., FIG. 1B, shows presenting (e.g., facilitating one or more stepsfor making the one or more services aware of the anonymized data,through a screen presentation, or through transmission of some or all ofthe anonymized data, or through posting information regarding theanonymized data to a place where it may be seen by one or more serviceproviders, and the like) the anonymized data (e.g., data that does notuniquely identify one or more of a device and/or a device of the user,whether because that data is not there, is unreadable (e.g., encrypted),is altered, protected, or prevented from being accessed, deleted, andthe like, or was never present, or has been aggregated or changed todisguise or camouflage specificity) to one or more service providers(e.g., one or more entities that take one or more steps in the design,planning, implementation, review, feedback, carrying out, transfer,collecting payment for, or otherwise oversee, one or more services(e.g., any task, or any portion of any task, or any combination oftasks, that can be carried out by a device, or by a device incommunication with another device, which may include human interaction,or may not include human interaction, and which may require one or moreresources, either locally to the device, or remotely from the device,and which may include one or more of hardware, software, firmware, datastored in or manipulated by any component, module, part, or portion ofthe device, including, but not limited to, hardware, software,applications, Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”), one or morevirtual machines, one or more Dynamically Loaded Libraries (“DLLs”), oneor more relational databases, one or more GUI frameworks, one or moreCOM structured storages, or any portion of any other device that isunder control of a device, e.g., a cloud resource, and the like))configured to generate (e.g., take at least one step towards thecreation, modification, upkeep, or maintenance of) one or more services(e.g., any task or portion of task as previously described).

Referring again to FIG. 5, operation 600 may include operation 608depicting acquiring the generated one or more services, said generatedone or more services at least partly based on the anonymized data. Forexample. FIG. 1, e.g., FIG. 1B, shows acquiring (e.g., receiving,retrieving, picking up, creating, generating, intercepting, reading,hearing, detecting, and the like) the generated one or more services(e.g., any task, or any portion of any task, or any combination oftasks, that can be carried out by a device, or by a device incommunication with another device, which may include human interaction,or may not include human interaction, and which may require one or moreresources, either locally to the device, or remotely from the device,and which may include one or more of hardware, software, firmware, datastored in or manipulated by any component, module, part, or portion ofthe device, including, but not limited to, hardware, software,applications, Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”), one or morevirtual machines, one or more Dynamically Loaded Libraries (“DLLs”), oneor more relational databases, one or more GUI frameworks, one or moreCOM structured storages, or any portion of any other device that isunder control of a device, e.g., a cloud resource, and the like), saidgenerated one or more services (e.g., any task as previously defined) atleast partly based on the anonymized data (e.g., data that does notuniquely identify one or more of a device and/or a device of the user,whether because that data is not there, is unreadable (e.g., encrypted),is altered, protected, or prevented from being accessed, deleted, andthe like, or was never present, or has been aggregated or changed todisguise or camouflage specificity).

FIGS. 7A-7E depict various implementations of operation 602, depictingacquiring property data regarding at least one property of one or moredevices according to embodiments. Referring now to FIG. 7A, operation602 may include operation 702 depicting acquiring property dataregarding a contact list of one or more devices. For example, FIG. 2,e.g., FIG. 2A, shows device contact list data related to a contact listattribute of a device obtaining module 202 acquiring property data(e.g., data indicating how much available storage space is on an SD cardthat is inserted into a device) regarding at least one property (e.g.,the available SD card storage space) of one or more devices (e.g., oneor more smartphones, tablet devices, and laptop computers).

Referring again to FIG. 7A, operation 702 may include operation 704depicting acquiring property data regarding a number of contacts storedin a contact list of the one or more devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g.FIG. 2A, shows contact list size data describing a number of contactsstored in a contact list of a device obtaining module 204 acquiringproperty data regarding a number of contacts stored in a contact list ofthe one or more devices (e.g., one or more desktop computers equippedwith Microsoft Outlook and its contact list feature set).

Referring again to FIG. 7A, operation 702 may include operation 706depicting acquiring property data regarding a number of contacts thatare stored in a contact list for which a contact has both a telephonenumber and an email address, of the one or more devices. For example,FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2A, shows contact list size data describing a numberof contacts stored in a contact list of a device that have both an emailaddress and a telephone number obtaining module 206 acquiring propertydata regarding a number of contacts that are stored in a contact listthat have a telephone number and an email address, of the one or moredevices (e.g., a smartphone, which may communicate with an entity on acontact list via telephone and/or email).

Referring again to FIG. 7A, operation 602 may include operation 708depicting receiving property data regarding at least one property of oneor more devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2A, shows deviceattribute data related to one or more device attributes receiving module208 receiving property data (e.g., data indicating a velocity) regardingat least one property (e.g., velocity) of one or more devices (e.g.,personal portable navigation systems).

Referring again to FIG. 7A, operation 708 may include operation 710depicting receiving, from the one or more devices, property dataregarding at least one property of the one or more devices. For example,FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2A, shows device attribute data related to one ormore device attributes receiving from the one or more devices module 210receiving, from the one or more devices (e.g., one or more gamingsystems), property data (e.g., data indicating how many hours a user hasplayed first-person shooter games) regarding at least one property(e.g., hours of use of particular games) of the one or more devices(e.g., game systems, whether dedicated, e.g., an Xbox or PlayStation, orother devices used as game systems, e.g., tablet devices and laptopcomputers).

Referring again to FIG. 7A, operation 708 may include operation 712depicting receiving, from a social networking site used by the one ormore devices, property data regarding at least one property of the oneor more devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2A, shows deviceattribute data related to one or more device attributes receiving from asocial networking site module 212 receiving, from a social networkingsite (e.g., Facebook) used (e.g., logged into or viewed) by the one ormore devices (e.g., one or more smartphones and/or tablet devices),property data regarding at least one property (e.g., a web browsinghistory) of the one or more devices.

Referring again to FIG. 7A, operation 602 may include operation 714depicting collecting property data regarding at least one property ofthe one or more devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2A, showsdevice attribute data related to one or more device attributescollecting module 214 collecting property data (e.g., collecting uploadspeeds over a wireless network) regarding at least one property (e.g.,upload speeds) of the one or more devices (e.g., one or more deviceshaving a wireless radio).

Referring again to FIG. 7A, operation 602 may include operation 716depicting monitoring data traffic of the one or more devices. Forexample, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2A, shows device data communication vianetwork monitoring module 216 monitoring (e.g., observing, watching,polling, receiving at particular intervals, receiving at randomintervals, receiving upon triggering of a condition, and the like) datatraffic (e.g., data transmitted to one or more other devices via acommunication network, e.g., communication network 140) of the one ormore devices (e.g., one or more enterprise computers connected over anenterprise network, e.g., a corporate intranet).

Referring again to FIG. 7A, operation 602 may include operation 718depicting gathering property data regarding at least one property of theone or more devices from the monitored data traffic. For example, FIG.2, e.g., FIG. 2A, shows attribute data related to one or more deviceattributes collecting through monitoring communication by the one ormore devices over a communication network module 218 gathering propertydata (e.g., a number of pages printed on one or more corporate printers)regarding at least one property (e.g., data usage) of the one or moredevices (e.g., networked computers on a corporate intranet) from themonitored data traffic (e.g., data transmitted over the network, whetherwired, wirelessly, both, or some other form of communication).

Referring now to FIG. 7B, operation 602 may include operation 720depicting acquiring property data regarding at least one status of oneor more devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2B, shows deviceattribute data related to a status of one or more devices obtainingmodule 220 acquiring property data (e.g., barometric pressure) regardingat least one status (e.g., an environment-dependent attribute, e.g.,something that can change depending on the device's surroundings, evenif a portion of the device does not change) of one or more devices(e.g., home weather monitoring systems that inform a user whether totake an umbrella or not before leaving for work).

Referring again to FIG. 7B, operation 720 may include operation 722depicting acquiring property data regarding at least oneenvironment-dependent property of one or more devices. For example, FIG.2, e.g., FIG. 2B, shows device attribute data related to anenvironment-dependent property of one or more devices obtaining module222 acquiring property data (e.g., velocity data) regarding at least oneenvironment-dependent property (e.g., velocity) of one or more devices(e.g., an in-vehicle portable navigation system). It is noted here thateven though the in-vehicle control system, depending on animplementation, may directly or indirectly control velocity of the motorvehicle, but velocity is still considered a status, rather than acharacteristic, because it depends on a variable that is external to thedevice.

Referring again to FIG. 7B, operation 722 may include operation 724depicting acquiring location data regarding a current location of one ormore devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2B, shows device locationdata related to a present location of one or more devices obtainingmodule 224 acquiring location data regarding a current location of oneor more devices (e.g., one or more internet-enabled video cameras).

Referring again to FIG. 7B, operation 602 may include operation 726depicting acquiring property data regarding at least one characteristicof one or more devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2B, shows deviceattribute data related to a characteristic of one or more devicesobtaining module 226 acquiring property data regarding at least onecharacteristic (e.g., a number of megapixels in a camera of the device)of one or more devices (e.g., a tablet device with a camera).

Referring again to FIG. 7B, operation 726 may include operation 728depicting acquiring property data regarding at least oneenvironment-independent property of one or more devices. For example,FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2B, shows device attribute data related to anenvironment-independent property of one or more devices obtaining module228 acquiring property data regarding at least oneenvironment-independent property (e.g., whether a device has atemperature sensor, or whether a device has a USB 3.0 port) of one ormore devices (e.g., one or more laptop computers, or tablet devices).

Referring again to FIG. 7B, operation 728 may include operation 730depicting acquiring data regarding a size of a contact list of the oneor more devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2B, shows devicecontact list data related to an amount of memory taken up by a contactlist stored on one or more devices obtaining module 230 acquiring dataregarding a size of a contact list of the one or more devices (e.g., oneor more tablet devices running a contact list manager software, e.g.,Microsoft Outlook).

Referring again to FIG. 7B, operation 602 may include operation 732depicting acquiring property data regarding a presence of one or moresensors on one or more devices. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2B,shows device sensor attribute data related to a presence of one or moresensors on more devices obtaining module 232 acquiring property dataregarding a presence of one or more sensors (e.g., an altimeter) on oneor more devices (e.g., a portable navigation system).

Referring again to FIG. 7B, operation 602 may include operation 734depicting acquiring property data regarding how many devices of a set ofdevices meet a particular criterion. For example, FIG. 2, e.g., FIG. 2B,shows device criterion data related to number of devices that meet oneor more criteria obtaining module 234 acquiring property data regardinghow many devices of a set of devices meet a particular criterion (e.g.,how many video game systems, e.g., Xbox 360, have more than fivegigabytes of free space to install a new game on).

Referring again to FIG. 7B, operation 734 may include operation 736depicting acquiring property data regarding how many devices of a set ofdevices have an image capturing sensor having a resolution of fivemegapixels or greater. For example, FIG. 2, e.g. FIG. 2B, shows deviceimage capturing criterion data indicating a number of devices have animage capturing sensor having at least a resolution of five megapixelsobtaining module 236 acquiring property data regarding how many devicesof a set of devices (e.g., the set may be heterogeneous, e.g., includedevices from different manufacturers, or different types of devicesaltogether, e.g., stationary computers with web cameras, and digitalphones with cameras built into the base) have an image capturing sensorhaving a resolution of five megapixels or greater.

FIGS. 8A-8D depict various implementations of operation 504, depictinggenerating anonymized data by altering the acquired property data toobscure one or more portions of the acquired property data that uniquelyidentify the one or more devices and/or one or more users of the one ormore devices, according to embodiments. Referring now to FIG. 8A,operation 604 may include operation 802 depicting generating anonymizeddata by altering the acquired property data, which includes one or morecontact lists of one or more devices and one or more device identifiersfor the one or more devices, to obscure the device identifiers thatuniquely identify the one or more devices. For example, FIG. 3, e.g.,FIG. 3A, shows anonymized data formed by modifying acquired attributedata including one or more contact lists and one or more deviceidentification numbers of one or more devices, to obscure a deviceand/or user identifying portion of the device attribute data generatingmodule 302 generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata (e.g., data indicating one or more pieces of information about acontact list stored on the device), which includes one or more contactlists of one or more devices and one or more device identifiers (e.g.,for smartphones, a telephone number of the device) for the one or moredevices, to obscure the device identifiers (e.g., by switching theodd-numbered digits with even-numbered digits) that uniquely identify(e.g., telephone numbers) the one or more devices (e.g., the one or moresmartphones).

Referring again to FIG. 8A, operation 802 may include operation 804depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata, which includes one or more contact lists of one or more devicesand one or more device identifiers for the one or more devices, toobscure the device identifiers by replacing the first character of theone or more device identifiers with a character from a lookup table, toobscure the device identifiers that uniquely identify the one or moredevices. For example, FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3A, shows anonymized dataformed by modifying acquired attribute data including one or morecontact lists and one or more device identification numbers of one ormore devices, by substituting a particular character of the deviceidentification number with a different character, to obscure a deviceand/or user identifying portion of the device attribute data generatingmodule 304 generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata, which includes one or more contact lists of one or more devicesand one or more device identifiers (e.g., a device name given by themanufacturer and that is unique for the device) for the one or moredevices, to obscure the device identifiers by replacing the firstcharacter of the one or more device identifiers with a character from alookup table, to obscure the device identifiers that uniquely identifythe one or more devices.

Referring again to FIG. 8A, operation 604 may include operation 806depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata to obscure one or more portions of the acquired property data thatuniquely identify the one or more devices. For example, FIG. 3, e.g.,FIG. 3A, shows anonymized data formed by altering acquired attributedata to obscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the deviceattribute data generating module 306 generating anonymized data (e.g.,data that does not uniquely identify a device and/or a user of thedevice) by altering the acquired property data to obscure one or moreportions of the acquired property data (e.g., a device's last thirtylocations) that uniquely identify the one or more devices.

Referring again to FIG. 8A, operation 604 may include operation 808depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata to obscure one or more portions of the acquired property data thatuniquely identify the users of the one or more devices. For example,FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3A, shows anonymized data formed by altering acquiredattribute data to obscure a device user identifying portion of thedevice attribute data generating module 308 generating anonymized databy altering the acquired property data to obscure one or more portionsof the acquired property data (e.g., a user's social security number)that uniquely identify the users of the one or more devices (e.g., abank-issued remote connection device).

Referring again to FIG. 8A, operation 604 may include operation 810depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata to remove one or more portions of the acquired property data thatuniquely identify the one or more devices and/or users of the one ormore devices. For example, FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3A, shows anonymized dataformed by deleting at least a portion of acquired attribute data toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 310 generating anonymized data by altering theacquired property data (e.g., whether the device is located in Seattle,Wash.) to remove one or more portions of the acquired property data(e.g., a device identification number) that uniquely identify the one ormore devices and/or users of the one or more devices.

Referring again to FIG. 8A, operation 604 may include operation 812depicting generating anonymized data by aggregating the acquiredproperty data to obscure a portion of the acquired property data thatuniquely identifies the one or more devices and/or users of the one ormore devices. For example, FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3A, shows anonymized dataformed by aggregating at least a portion of acquired attribute data toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 312 generating anonymized data by aggregating(e.g., taking location data from twenty different devices, and twentydevice identifiers, and packaging them together, so that a specificdevice identifier cannot be matched to a specific one of the twentydifferent locations, so that a device can only be identified with1-in-20 accuracy, which is not uniquely identifying) the acquiredproperty data to obscure a portion of the acquired property data (e.g.,a recorded decibel level at the device's location) that uniquelyidentifies the one or more devices and/or users of the one or moredevices.

Referring now to FIG. 8B, operation 604 may include operation 814depicting generating anonymized data by removing a link between theacquired property data and a unique identification of the one or moredevices that generated the acquired property data. For example, FIG. 3,e.g., FIG. 3B, shows anonymized data formed by modifying acquiredattribute data to remove a link between a device identification portionof the acquired attribute data and an other portion of the acquiredattribute data, to obscure a device and/or user identifying portion ofthe device attribute data generating module 314 generating anonymizeddata by removing a link between the acquired property data (e.g., anamount of RAM installed in a laptop computer) and a uniqueidentification (e.g., the serial number from a copy of Windows runningon the device) of the one or more devices that generated the acquiredproperty data.

Referring again to FIG. 8B, operation 604 may include operation 816depicting generating anonymized data by adding the acquired propertydata to previously acquired property data and removing data indicatingthe relationship between the one or more devices and one or morespecific portions of the property data that uniquely identify the one ormore devices. For example, FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3B, shows anonymized dataformed by adding acquired attribute data to previously acquired propertydata and removing specific relational information between the one ormore devices and the acquired attribute data, to obscure a device and/oruser identifying portion of the device attribute data generating module316 generating anonymized data by adding the acquired property data(e.g., velocity of one or more vehicle-mounted personal navigationdevices) to previously acquired property data and removing dataindicating the relationship between the one or more devices and specificportions of the property data that uniquely identify the one or moredevices (e.g., the data includes a set of device identifiers, and a setof velocity data, but not the connection between which device identifierto which velocity data, e.g., which may be useful for insurancecompanies and/or law enforcement agencies to determine where speeding istaking place).

Referring again to FIG. 8B, operation 604 may include operation 818depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata to encrypt one or more portions of the acquired property data thatuniquely identify the one or more devices and/or users of the one ormore devices. For example, FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3B, shows anonymized dataformed by encrypting at least a portion of acquired attribute data toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 318 generating anonymized data by altering theacquired property data (e.g., location data) to encrypt one or moreportions of the acquired property data that uniquely identify the one ormore devices and/or users of the one or more devices.

Referring again to FIG. 8B, operation 604 may include operation 820depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata by applying a reversible data transformation algorithm to one ormore portions of the acquired property data that uniquely identify theone or more devices and/or users of the one or more devices. Forexample, FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3B, shows anonymized data formed bymodifying acquired attribute data using a reversible data transformationalgorithm to obscure a device and/or user identifying portion of thedevice attribute data generating module 320 generating anonymized databy altering the acquired property data (e.g., an ambient light amountdetected by the device) by applying a reversible data transformationalgorithm to one or more portions of the acquired property data thatuniquely identify the one or more devices and/or users of the one ormore devices.

Referring again to FIG. 8B, operation 604 may include operation 822depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata by replacing one or more portions of the acquired property datathat uniquely identify the one or more devices and/or users of the oneor more devices with a value stored in a lookup table. For example, FIG.3, e.g., FIG. 3B, shows anonymized data formed by replacing a portion ofthe acquired attribute data with a lookup table value, to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module 322 generating anonymized data by altering theacquired property data by replacing one or more portions of the acquiredproperty data (e.g., the device name) that uniquely identify the one ormore devices and/or users of the one or more devices with a value storedin a lookup table (e.g., the data is replaced with “user062462,” and inthe lookup table, for the index value “user062462,” the actual devicename is placed in the lookup table).

Referring now to FIG. 8C, operation 604 may include operation 824depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata by replacing one or more portions of the acquired property datathat uniquely identify the one or more devices and/or users of the oneor more devices with one or more random values. For example, FIG. 3,e.g., FIG. 3C, shows anonymized data formed by replacing at least aportion of the acquired attribute data with random data, to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module 324 generating anonymized data bay altering theacquired property data by replacing one or more portions of the acquiredproperty data (e.g., an IP address) that uniquely identify the one ormore devices (e.g., one or more desktop computers connected to theInternet) and/or users of the one or more devices with one or morerandom values (e.g., replacing at least a portion of the IP address withnumbers generated from a random number generator).

Referring again to FIG. 8C, operation 604 may include operation 826depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata by replacing one or more portions of the acquired property datathat uniquely identify the one or more devices and/or users of the oneor more devices with one or more false random values. For example, FIG.3, e.g., FIG. 3C, shows anonymized data formed by replacing at least aportion of the acquired attribute data with false random data, toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module 326 generating anonymized data by altering theacquired property data by replacing one or more portions of the acquiredproperty data that uniquely identify the one or more devices and/orusers of the one or more devices with one or more false random values(e.g., values generated by an algorithm in a repeatable manner, butwithout knowing the algorithm, appear to be random).

Referring again to FIG. 8C, operation 604 may include operation 828depicting generating anonymized data by altering the acquired propertydata by replacing one or more portions of the acquired property datathat uniquely identify the one or more devices and/or users of the oneor more devices with data having a similar format as uniquelyidentifying data that uniquely identifies the one or more devices and/orusers. For example, FIG. 3, e.g., FIG. 3C, shows anonymized data formedby replacing at least a portion of the acquired attribute data with datahaving a particular obscuring format, to obscure a device and/or useridentifying portion of the device attribute data generating module 328generating anonymized data by altering the acquired property data (e.g.,location data) by replacing one or more portions of the acquiredproperty data that uniquely identify the one or more devices (e.g., adevice name assigned by the user upon initial device setup andtransmitted to a manufacturer of the device for registration purposes)with data having similar format (e.g., a device name, e.g., that lookslike a real name, e.g., “Bob's kitchen computer”) as uniquelyidentifying data that uniquely identifies the one or more devices and/orusers.

FIGS. 9A-9C depict various implementations of operation 606 depictingpresenting the anonymized data to one or more service providersconfigured to generate one or more services, according to embodiments.Referring now to FIG. 9A, operation 606 may include operation 902depicting displaying data regarding one or more devices that have morethan twenty-five contacts in their contact list to one or more serviceproviders configured to generate one or more services. For example, FIG.4, e.g., FIG. 4A, shows anonymized data presentation to one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based services for oneor more devices having more than a predetermined number of contacts in adevice contact list facilitating module 402 displaying (e.g., displayingon a device, or causing a device to display on its output portion, e.g.,screen) data regarding one or more devices (e.g., smartphones) that havemore than twenty-five contacts in their contact list to one or moreservice providers configured to generate one or more services (e.g., agenealogy service).

Referring again to FIG. 9A, operation 902 may include operation 904depicting displaying data regarding one or more devices that have morethan twenty-five contacts in their contact lists to one or more serviceproviders configured to generate one or more services that use one ormore device contact lists. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4A, showsanonymized data displaying to one or more entities configured to obtainone or more device contact list-based services for one or more deviceshaving more than a predetermined number of contacts in a device contactlist facilitating module 404 displaying data regarding one or moredevices that have more than twenty-five contacts in their contact liststo one or more service providers (e.g., one or more entities, whetherpersons, corporate entities, or automated service providers) configuredto generate one or more services (e.g., a mass-notification service)that use one or more device contact lists.

Referring again to FIG. 9A, operation 904 may include operation 906depicting displaying one or more devices that have more than twenty-fivecontacts in their contact lists to one or more service providersconfigured to generate a friend finding service that locates entities inthe one or more device contact lists. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG.4A, shows anonymized data displaying to one or more entities configuredto obtain a friend-finding contact list-based service for one or moredevices having more than a predetermined number of contacts in a devicecontact list facilitating module 406 displaying one or more devices thathave more than twenty-five contacts in their contact lists to one ormore service providers configured to generate a friend-finding servicethat locates entities in the one or more device contact lists.

Referring again to FIG. 9A, operation 606 may include operation 908depicting transmitting the anonymized data to one or more serviceproviders configured to generate one or more services. For example, FIG.4, e.g., FIG. 4A, shows anonymized data transmission to one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module 408 transmitting the anonymized data to one or moreservice providers (e.g., an outdoors company, e.g., REI, as a serviceprovider provides an application that tracks people on hiking trails)configured to generate one or more services (e.g., a hiking assistanceservice).

Referring again to FIG. 9A, operation 606 may include operation 910depicting presenting a visual exchange interface configured to beaccessed by the one or more service providers, wherein the visualexchange interface is configured to allow the one or more serviceproviders to view a representation of the anonymized data. For example,FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4A, shows anonymized data presentation via a visualexchange interface to one or more entities configured to obtain one ormore device-based services facilitating module 410 presenting a visualexchange interface (e.g., a front-end where various services can beviewed, e.g., a store, an auction site, a listing, a database, and thelike) configured to be accessed by the one or more service providers(e.g., a ticket distribution company, e.g., Ticketmaster, that mayprovide ticket matching services), wherein the visual exchange interfaceis configured to allow the one or more service providers to view arepresentation of the anonymized data (e.g., an indication of whatanonymized data is available, either a graphical representation, adescription, a subset, or the like).

Referring again to FIG. 9A, operation 910 may include operation 912depicting presenting a visual exchange interface configured to beaccessed by the one or more service providers, wherein the visualexchange interface comprises one or more graphical representations ofthe anonymized data. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4A, showsanonymized data presentation via a visual exchange interface designedfor one or more service providing entities to the one or more serviceproviding entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices facilitating module 412 presenting a visual exchange interfaceconfigured to be accessed by the one or more service providers (e.g.,various gym and athletic training service providers that design trainingapplications for devices), wherein the visual exchange interfacecomprises one or more graphical representations (e.g., an icon, or agraph representing the anonymized data in aggregate form, e.g., a piechart indicating that 65% of devices have a particular feature) of theanonymized data.

Referring again to FIG. 9A, operation 910 may include operation 914depicting presenting an interactive visual exchange interface configuredto be accessed by the one or more service providers, wherein the visualexchange interface comprises one or more selectable graphicalrepresentations of the anonymized data. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG.4A, shows anonymized data presentation via an interactive visualexchange interface to one or more entities configured to obtain one ormore device-based services facilitating module 414 presenting aninteractive visual exchange interface configured to be accessed by theone or more service providers (e.g., a device manufacturer, e.g., Apple,provides various services to be used on their devices, e.g., mapping,restaurant queries, and the like), wherein the visual exchange interfacecomprises one or more selectable graphical representations (e.g., icons)of the anonymized data.

Referring now to FIG. 9B, operation 606 may include operation 916depicting transmitting an offer to make available for sale theanonymized data to one or more service providers configured to generateone or more services. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4B, showsanonymized data offer for sale transmission to one or more entitiesconfigured to obtain one or more device-based services facilitatingmodule 416 transmitting an offer to make available for sale theanonymized data (e.g., data indicating how many devices have three ormore bicycling applications already installed) to one or more serviceproviders (e.g., a bicycle manufacturer trying to design a service anddeliver to a likely audience) configured to generate one or moreservices (e.g., a bike tire inflation monitoring service).

Referring again to FIG. 9B, operation 606 may include operation 918depicting presenting the anonymized data to an auction-style interfaceconfigured to allow the one or more service providers to place one ormore bids for access to the anonymized data. For example, FIG. 4, e.g.,FIG. 4B, shows anonymized data presentation in a bid auction format toone or more entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices facilitating module 418 presenting the anonymized data to anauction-style interface configured to allow the one or more serviceproviders (e.g., an alcohol distribution service that wants to bid ondata showing how many devices spend more than four hours a week atvarious bars in a city) to place one or more bids for access to theanonymized data (e.g., aggregated location data).

Referring again to FIG. 9B. operation 606 may include operation 920depicting receiving a request from a service provider for particularanonymized data. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4B, shows one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based services requestfor particular anonymized data receiving module 420 receiving a requestfrom a service provider (e.g., a weight-loss corporation creating acalorie counting service) for particular anonymized data (e.g., dataindicating a person's weight and body mass index (BMI), with the datastored on the one or more devices).

Referring again to FIG. 9B, operation 606 may include operation 922depicting determining whether the generated anonymized data isconfigured to fulfill the requested particular anonymized data. Forexample, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4B, shows anonymized data suitability forfulfilling request for particular anonymized data determining module 422determining whether the generated anonymized data (e.g., does thegenerated anonymized data, which has user profiles that were enteredinto various sites, e.g., social networking sites or dating sites) isconfigured to fulfill (e.g., has aggregated weights of users) therequested particular anonymized data (e.g., aggregated person's weightand BMI).

Referring again to FIG. 9B, operation 606 may include operation 924depicting transmitting the generated anonymized data based on thedetermination regarding the generated anonymized data. For example, FIG.4, e.g., FIG. 4B, shows at least a portion of anonymized datatransmitting in response to request for particular anonymized datamodule 424 transmitting the generated anonymized data (e.g., aggregatedperson's weight and BMI) based on the determination regarding thegenerated anonymized data.

Referring again to FIG. 9B, operation 606 may include operation 926depicting presenting the anonymized data to one or more serviceproviders configured to generate the one or more services, wherein saidone or more service providers have previously registered to receivepresentations of various anonymous data. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG.4B, shows anonymized data presentation to one or more entities thatpreviously registered to receive anonymized data and are configured toobtain one or more device-based services facilitating module 426presenting the anonymized data to one or more service providers (e.g.,music label producers creating a service that delivers new music in auser's preferred genre to their device) configured to generate the oneor more services, wherein said one or more service providers havepreviously registered to receive presentations of various anonymousdata.

Referring again to FIG. 9B, operation 926 may include operation 928depicting presenting the anonymized data to one or more serviceproviders configured to generate the one or more services, wherein saidone or more service providers have previously registered to receivepresentations of various anonymous data that has a property in commonwith the generated anonymized data. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4B,shows anonymized data presentation to one or more entities thatpreviously registered to receive anonymized data having a particularproperty and are configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module 428 presenting the anonymized data (e.g., anonymizedvelocity and temperature data) to one or more service providers (e.g., aprovider of a service that locates water stops for runners) configuredto generate the one or more services (e.g., a service that finds waterfountains along a route being run by a runner carrying a personaldevice), wherein said one or more service providers have previouslyregistered to receive presentations of various anonymous data (e.g.,data tracking locations) that has a property in common with thegenerated anonymized data (e.g., which is location and temperaturedata).

Referring again to FIG. 9B, operation 928 may include operation 930depicting presenting the anonymized data to one or more serviceproviders configured to generate the one or more services, wherein saidone or more service providers have previously registered to receivepresentations of anonymous data related to a number of pictures storedon a device, and the generated anonymized data is a listing of a numberof pictures on at least one of the one or more devices. For example,FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4B, shows anonymized data presentation to one or moreentities that previously registered to receive anonymized data collectedfrom one or more devices having more than a particular number ofpictures stored on the one or more devices and are configured to obtainone or more device-based services facilitating module 430 presenting theanonymized data to one or more service providers (e.g., a photodeveloping company that wants to develop a photo sorting service)configured to generate the one or more services (e.g., a digitalphotograph sorting service), wherein said one or more service providershave previously registered to receive presentations of anonymous datarelated to a number of pictures stored on a device, and the generatedanonymized data is a listing of a number of pictures on at least one ofthe one or more devices.

Referring now to FIG. 9C, operation 606 may include operation 932depicting receiving a request from one or more service providers toreceive the anonymized data. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4C, showsanonymized data request from one or more entities configured to obtainone or more device-based services receiving module 432 receiving arequest from one or more service providers (e.g., broadband internetservice providers that want to create an application that tracks averageupload speeds) to receive the anonymized data (e.g., achieved uploadspeeds at various times)

Referring again to FIG. 9C, operation 606 may include operation 934depicting selecting one or more service providers to which to presentthe anonymized data. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4C, shows one ormore entities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesthat requested anonymized data selecting module 434 selecting one ormore service providers (e.g., selecting, from various telecom serviceproviders) to which to present the anonymized data (e.g., achievedupload speeds at various times and various locations).

Referring again to FIG. 9C, operation 934 may include operation 936depicting selecting one or more service providers to which to presentthe anonymized data based on a prior relationship with the one or moreservice providers. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4C, shows selectingone or more service providers to which to present the anonymized databased on a prior relationship with one or more entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services that requested anonymized dataselecting at least partly based on entity prior relationship module 436selecting one or more service providers (e.g., for weight loss services)to which to present the anonymized data (e.g., calorie tracking datamanually inputted by users into a device) based on a prior relationship(e.g., a selected service provider already has a contract and is awell-known name, e.g., Weight Watchers)) with the one or more serviceproviders.

Referring again to FIG. 9C, operation 934 may include operation 938depicting selecting one or more service providers to which to presentthe anonymized data based on a prior service provided by the one or moreservice providers. For example, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4C, shows one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based services thatrequested anonymized data selecting at least partly based on entityprior service obtained module 438 selecting one or more serviceproviders to which to present the anonymized data based on a priorservice provided by the one or more service providers (e.g., a selectedservice provider previously provided a service that was widely acceptedby devices and gained lots of profits).

Referring again to FIG. 9C, operation 606 may include operation 940depicting transmitting a portion of the anonymized data to one or moreservice providers configured to generate one or more services. Forexample, FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4C, shows portion of anonymized datatransmission to one or more entities configured to obtain one or moredevice-based services facilitating module 440 transmitting a portion ofthe anonymized data (e.g., a sample of the data, for example, if theanonymized data includes anonymous velocity data for five hundreddevices, sending anonymous velocity data for ten devices) to one or moreservice providers (e.g., an insurance company designing an applicationfor in-vehicle control systems) configured to generate one or moreservices (e.g., an insurance company designing an application forin-vehicle control systems). It is noted that the portion of theanonymized data to be transmitted may be selected randomly, or may beselected by a human, or may be selected by any process, set of steps, oralgorithm.

Referring again to FIG. 9C, operation 606 may include operation 942depicting transmitting a remainder of the anonymized data to the one ormore services upon receipt of an indication that the one or more serviceproviders request the remainder of the anonymized data. For example,FIG. 4, e.g., FIG. 4C, shows remainder of anonymized data transmissionto one or more entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices facilitating in response to a received indication from the oneor more entities requesting the remainder of anonymized data module 442transmitting a remainder of the anonymized data to the one or moreservices upon receipt of an indication that the one or more serviceproviders request the remainder of the anonymized data (e.g., the otherfour hundred and ninety-five anonymized velocity readings).

FIGS. 10A-10C depict various implementations of operation 608 depictingacquiring the generated one or more services, said generated one or moreservices at least partly based on the anonymized data, according toembodiments. Referring now to FIG. 10A, operation 608 may includeoperation 1002 depicting acquiring a service for sorting photographs ona device, said service for sorting photographs generated at least partlybased on the anonymized data. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5A, showsentity-obtained device based service for sorting device photographs,said service at least partly based on anonymized data acquiring module502 acquiring a service for sorting photographs on a device, saidservice for sorting photographs generated at least partly based on theanonymized data (e.g., data showing how many pictures are stored in eachdirectory on the device).

Referring again to FIG. 10A, operation 1002 may include operation 1004depicting acquiring a service for sorting photographs on a device, saidservice for sorting photographs generated at least partly based onanonymized data indicating a presence of one or more devices having morethan five hundred unsorted pictures stored in memory. For example, FIG.5, e.g., FIG. 5A, shows entity-obtained device based service for sortingdevice photographs, said service at least partly based on anonymizeddata indicating a presence of a particular number of device photographsacquiring module 504 acquiring a service for sorting photographs on adevice, said service for sorting photographs generated at least partlybased on anonymized data indicating a presence of one or more deviceshaving more than five hundred unsorted pictures stored in memory (e.g.,the anonymized data may be a number of devices that have more than fivehundred unsorted pictures, or may simply be an indicator that the numberof devices that have more than five hundred unsorted pictures is above athreshold number, which may have been set by the service provider). Forexample, in an embodiment, the service provider may ask if there aremore than 100 devices having more than five hundred unsorted picturesstored in memory, and the anonymized data may include merely a “yes” ora “no,” based on the service provider request.

Referring again to FIG. 10A, operation 1002 may include operation 1006depicting acquiring a service for sorting photographs on a device, saidservice for sorting photographs generated at least partly based onanonymized data indicating that more than thirty-five camera devices ofthe one or more devices were detected. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG.5A, shows entity-obtained device based service for sorting devicephotographs, said service at least partly based on anonymized dataindicating a presence of a particular number of devices equipped with acamera acquiring module 506 acquiring a service for sorting photographson a device, said service for sorting photographs generated at leastpartly based on anonymized data indicating that more than thirty-fivecamera devices of the one or more devices were detected.

Referring again to FIG. 10A, operation 608 may include operation 1008depicting receiving the generated one or more services from the one ormore service providers, said generated services at least partly based onthe anonymous data. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5A, shows one ormore entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data receiving module 508 receiving the generated one or moreservices (e.g., the generated picture sorting service) from the one ormore service providers, said generated services at least partly based onthe anonymous data (e.g., the picture sorting service is designed tohandle large numbers of pictures, based on the anonymous data indirectlyindicating that there would be a demand for that type of service).

Referring now to FIG. 10B, operation 608 may include operation 1010depicting polling one or more service providers to determine a presenceof generated one or more services. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5B,shows determining whether one or more services are present by pollingone or more entities configured to provide one or more device-basedservices module 510 polling one or more service providers to determine apresence of generated one or more services (e.g., there may be multipleservice providers that put out numerous services, and in an embodiment,rather than notifying each time the one or more service providersgenerate a service, they are polled for the services they havegenerated).

Referring again to FIG. 10B, operation 608 may include operation 1012depicting acquiring at least one of the generated one or more servicesfrom the polled one or more service providers. For example, FIG. 5,e.g., FIG. 5B, shows determined one or more services acquiring from thepolled one or more entities module 512 acquiring at least one of thegenerated one or more services (e.g., a rest stop finding service) fromthe polled one or more service providers.

Referring again to FIG. 10B, operation 1012 may include operation 1014depicting acquiring at least one of the generated one or more servicesfrom the polled one or more service providers, at least partly based ona portion of the one or more devices to which the one or more servicesrequire access. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5B, shows determined oneor more services acquiring from the polled one or more entities, atleast partly based on one or more device features related to the one ormore device-based services module 514 acquiring at least one of thegenerated one or more services from the polled one or more serviceproviders, at least partly based on a portion of the one or more devices(e.g., a portion of the storage medium where music is stored) to whichthe one or more services (e.g., a new music finding service) requireaccess.

Referring again to FIG. 10B, operation 1014 may include operation 1016depicting acquiring at least one of the generated one or more servicesfrom the polled one or more service providers, at least partly based onthe one or more services requiring access to a portion of the one ormore devices to which access is indicated as valuable. For example, FIG.5, e.g., FIG. 5B, shows determined one or more services acquiring fromthe polled one or more entities, at least partly based on one or moredevice portions deemed valuable to which the one or more device-basedservices require access module 516 acquiring at least one of thegenerated one or more services from the polled one or more serviceproviders, at least partly based on the one or more services requiringaccess to a portion (e.g., a web browsing history) of the one or moredevices to which access is indicated as valuable (e.g., an entity,whether human or automated, has indicated that, for a specific set ofdevices, or generally, that a web browsing history is valuableinformation to one or more entities).

Referring again to FIG. 10B, operation 1016 may include operation 1018depicting acquiring at least one of the generated one or more servicesfrom the polled one or more service providers, at least partly based onthe one or more services requiring access to a positioning sensor of theone or more devices, wherein the positioning information from thepositioning sensor of the one or more devices is indicated as valuableinformation. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5B, shows determined one ormore services acquiring from the polled one or more entities, at leastpartly based on one or more device portions indicating informationregarding a position of the device that is deemed valuable, to which theone or more device-based services require access module 518 acquiring atleast one of the generated one or more services (e.g., a soda popvending machine locating service) from the polled one or more serviceproviders (e.g., a soda pop company, e.g., Coca-Cola), at least partlybased on the one or more services requiring access to a positioningsensor (e.g., the vending machine locating service needs the device'scurrent location to show soda pop machines in the device's vicinity) ofthe one or more devices (e.g., one or more smartphones), wherein thepositioning information from the positioning sensor of the one or moredevices is indicated as valuable information (e.g., an entity, notnecessarily Coca-Cola, has indicated that the position information willbe valuable).

Referring again to FIG. 10B, operation 1018 may include operation 1020depicting acquiring at least one of the generated one or more servicesfrom the polled one or more service providers, at least partly based onthe one or more services requiring access to a positioning sensor of theone or more devices, wherein the positioning information from thepositioning sensor of the one or more devices is indicated as valuableinformation for use in providing targeted advertising. For example, FIG.5, e.g., FIG. 5B, shows determined one or more services acquiring fromthe polled one or more entities, at least partly based on one or moredevice portions indicating information regarding a position of thedevice that is deemed valuable for a purpose of targeted advertising, towhich the one or more device-based services require access module 520acquiring at least one of the generated one or more services from thepolled one or more service providers, at least partly based on the oneor more services requiring access to a positioning sensor of the one ormore devices, wherein the positioning information from the positioningsensor of the one or more devices is indicated as valuable informationfor use in providing targeted advertising.

Referring now to FIG. 10C, operation 608 may include operation 1022depicting receiving the generated one or more services, said generatedservices at least partly based on the anonymized data. For example, FIG.5, e.g., FIG. 5C, shows one or more entity-obtained device basedservices at least partly based on anonymized data receiving module 522receiving (e.g., receiving permission to mediate a purchase of theservice from a device, regardless of whether the service is acquired)the generated one or more services (e.g., a new music finding service),said generated services at least partly based on the anonymized data(e.g., a list of the songs stored on the device (e.g., a Microsoft ZuneHD music player)).

Referring again to FIG. 10C, operation 608 may include operation 1024depicting selecting a particular service of the generated one or moreservices. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5C, shows received one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data selecting module 524 selecting a particular service(e.g., a pickup football game scheduler that compares friends' locationsand schedules) of the generated one or more services.

Referring again to FIG. 10C, operation 1024 may include operation 1026depicting selecting a particular service of the generated one or moreservices at least partly based on an analysis of data from the one ormore devices that may be obtained if the one or more devices accept theparticular services. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5C, shows receivedone or more entity-obtained device based services at least partly basedon anonymized data selecting at least partly based on analysis ofanonymized data module 526 selecting a particular service (e.g., abicycle-riding mapping application) of the generated one or moreservices at least partly based on an analysis of data (e.g., estimatinghow much the data might be worth, which might vary depending on theusage of the data, whether it's for sale, for providing more targetedservices, or for providing unrelated advertisements and offers) from theone or more devices (e.g., one or more smartphones) that may be obtainedif the one or more devices accept the particular services (e.g., thebicycle-riding mapping application).

Referring again to FIG. 10C, operation 1026 may include operation 1028depicting selecting a user preference learning service that is at leastpartly based on a web browsing history of a device, based on an analysisthat web browsing history of a device may be obtained if the one or moredevices accept the user preference learning service. For example, FIG.5, e.g., FIG. 5C, shows received one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data selecting atleast partly based on analysis of anonymized data indicating that webbrowsing history associated with a particular device may be obtainedmodule 528 selecting a user preference learning service that is at leastpartly based on a web browsing history of a device, based on an analysisthat web browsing history of a device may be obtained if the one or moredevices accept the user preference learning service (e.g., the webbrowsing history may be desirable to the entity making thedetermination, for various reasons, e.g., including, but not limited to,marketing, resale of the data, and analysis of a user's internetbehavior for scientific research).

Referring again to FIG. 10C, operation 608 may include operation 1030depicting receiving information regarding a particular service of theone or more generated services from a particular service provider of theone or more service providers. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5C, showsone or more entity-obtained device based services at least partly basedon anonymized data information regarding the service acquiring module530 receiving information (e.g., a name and profile information, as wellas a listing of data required for the application to function properly)regarding a particular service (e.g., a research station weather statustracking application) of the one or more generated services from aparticular service provider (e.g., a local university with a weatherresearch division) of the one or more service providers).

Referring again to FIG. 10C, operation 608 may include operation 1032depicting offering deanonymizing data configured to uniquely identifythe one or more devices on which the anonymized data is based, inexchange for receiving the particular service. For example, FIG. 5,e.g., FIG. 5C, shows deanonymization data configured to uniquelyidentify one or more devices offering in exchange for receiving theparticular one or more entity-obtained device based services for whichinformation was acquired module 532 offering deanonymizing data (e.g.,data that will convert the anonymized data into or replace theanonymized data with data that uniquely identifies the one or moredevices and/or one or more users of the devices) configured to uniquelyidentify the one or more devices (e.g., a unique device ID) on which theanonymized data is based (e.g., at least one of the one or more devicesthat generated the data that resulted in the anonymized data), inexchange for receiving the particular service (e.g., a “find new funplaces” service for travelers).

Referring now to FIG. 10D, operation 608 may include operation 1034depicting offering deanonymizing data configured to uniquely identifythe one or more devices on which the anonymized data is based, inexchange for receiving a particular service of the one or more generatedservices. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5D, shows one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data configured touniquely identify the device module 534 offering deanonymizing dataconfigured to uniquely identify the one or more devices on which theanonymized data is based, in exchange for receiving a particular service(e.g., an optimal workout designing service) of the one or moregenerated services.

Referring again to FIG. 10D, operation 1034 may include operation 1036depicting offering deanonymizing data configured to uniquely identifythe one or more devices on which the anonymized data is based, to aparticular service provider that generated the particular service, inexchange for receiving a particular service of the one or more generatedservices. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5D, shows one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data to aparticular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to uniquely identify the device module536 offering deanonymizing data (e.g., data that replaces the anonymizeddata with data that uniquely identifies the one or more devices and/orone or more users of the devices) configured to uniquely identify theone or more devices on which the anonymized data is based, to aparticular service provider that generated the particular service, inexchange for receiving a particular service (e.g., an application thatplans stops and sights and bathroom breaks on a road trip) of the one ormore generated services.

Referring again to FIG. 10D, operation 1036 may include operation 1038depicting offering deanonymizing data configured to transform theanonymized data into data that uniquely identifies at least one of theone or more devices on which the anonymized data is based, in exchangefor receiving the particular service of the one or more generatedservices. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5D, shows one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data to aparticular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to transform the anonymized data intodata uniquely identifying the device module 538 offering deanonymizingdata (e.g., data that will convert the anonymized data into or replacethe anonymized data with data that uniquely identifies the one or moredevices and/or one or more users of the devices) configured to transformthe anonymized data into data that uniquely identifies at least one ofthe one or more devices on which the anonymized data is based, inexchange for receiving the particular service (e.g., a common web pagecaching and updating service for offline and/or faster reading) of theone or more generated services

Referring again to FIG. 10D, operation 1038 may include operation 1040depicting offering deanonymizing data configured to decrypt at least aportion of the anonymized data, revealing data that uniquely identifiesat least one of the one or more devices on which the anonymized data isbased, in exchange for receiving a particular service of the one or moregenerated services. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5D, shows one ormore entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data to aparticular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to decrypt the anonymized data into datauniquely identifying the device module 540 offering deanonymizing data(e.g., data that will convert the anonymized data into data thatuniquely identifies the one or more devices and/or one or more users ofthe devices) configured to decrypt at least a portion of the anonymizeddata, revealing data that uniquely identifies at least one of the one ormore devices (e.g., gaming systems) on which the anonymized data (e.g.,number of hours each game of the gaming system is played), in exchangefor receiving a particular service (e.g., a new shooting gamerecommending service) of the one or more generated services (e.g., theone or more generated services included a new shooting game recommendingservice, a new sports game recommending service, and a new strategy gamerecommending service, and based on the anonymized data indicating howmuch time the user spent playing each type of game, the new shootinggame recommending service was selected).

Referring again to FIG. 10D, operation 1038 may include operation 1042depicting offering deanonymizing data including a lookup table, whereinthe lookup table is configured to allow replacement of non-identifyingdata of the anonymized data with data that uniquely identifies at leastone of the one or more devices on which the anonymized data is based.For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5D, shows one or more entity-obtaineddevice based services at least partly based on anonymized data acquiringby offering deanonymization data to a particular entity that generated aparticular service, said deanonymization data configured to substitutingthe anonymized data for data uniquely identifying the device module 542offering deanonymizing data (e.g., data that will convert the anonymizeddata into data that uniquely identifies the one or more devices and/orone or more users of the devices) comprising a lookup table, wherein thelookup table is configured to allow replacement of non-identifying dataof the anonymized data (e.g., character strings that were substitutedfor the IP addresses when the data was originally anonymized) with datathat uniquely identifies at least one of the one or more devices (e.g.,an IP address) on which the anonymized data is based (e.g., the devicethat generated the anonymized data).

Referring again to FIG. 10D, operation 1034 may include operation 1044depicting offering deanonymizing data configured to uniquely identifythe one or more devices on which the anonymized data is based, to aparticular service provider that generated the particular service, inexchange for receiving permission to offer the particular service of theone or more generated services to the one or more devices. For example,FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5D, shows permission to offer one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data configured touniquely identify the device module 544 offering deanonymized data(e.g., data that will convert the anonymized data into or replace theanonymized data with data that uniquely identifies the one or moredevices and/or one or more users of the devices) configured to uniquelyidentify devices on which the anonymized data is based, to a particularservice provider (e.g., a game company that generates gaming services)that generated the particular service, in exchange for receivingpermission to offer the particular service of the one or more generatedservices to the one or more devices (e.g., permission to offer the gameservice to the gaming system, e.g., to a user of the gaming system).

Referring now to FIG. 10E, operation 608 may include operation 1046depicting acquiring the generated one or more services, said generatedservices at least partly based on anonymized data indicating a type ofthe one or more devices. For example, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5E, shows oneor more entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data indicating a type of the device acquiring module 546acquiring the generated one or more services (e.g., tracking anemployee's use of their time in order to boost efficiency), saidgenerated services at least partly based on anonymized data indicating atype (e.g., networked corporate company-owned computers, laptops, andtablet devices) of the one or more devices.

Referring again to FIG. 10E, operation 608 may include operation 1048depicting acquiring the generated one or more services, said generatedservices at least partly based on anonymized data indicating aparticular condition present of the one or more devices. For example,FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5E, shows one or more entity-obtained device basedservices at least partly based on anonymized data indicating a conditionpresent on the device acquiring module 548 acquiring the generated oneor more services (e.g., a driving tips generating service), saidgenerated services at least partly based on anonymized data (e.g., datacollected from an in-vehicle navigation and control system, for whichthe vehicle VIN has been obscured) indicating a particular conditionpresent of the one or more devices (e.g., the in-vehicle navigation andcontrol system).

Referring again to FIG. 10E, operation 608 may include operation 1050depicting acquiring the generated one or more services, said generatedone or more services at least partly based on anonymized data indicatinga particular amount of data present on the one or more devices. Forexample, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5E, shows one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data indicating aparticular amount of data stored on the device acquiring module 550acquiring the generated one or more services (e.g., a new music findingservice), said generated one or more services at least partly based onanonymized data (e.g., data that does not particularly identify thedevice, e.g., data for a portable music player for which the user'sunique account name has been deleted) indicating a particular amount ofdata (e.g., more than 5 GB of music encoded in MP3 format) present onthe one or more devices (e.g., a portable media player).

Referring again to FIG. 10E, operation 608 may include operation 1052depicting acquiring the generated one or more services, said generatedservices at least partly based on anonymized data indicating aparticular environment at which the one or more devices are present. Forexample, FIG. 5, e.g., FIG. 5E, shows one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data indicating aparticular environment surrounding the device acquiring module 552acquiring the generated one or more services (e.g., an ice cream parlorfinding service), said generated services at least partly based onanonymized data (e.g., data for which the device and/or the user relatedto the data cannot be uniquely identified) indicating a particularenvironment (e.g., temperature data indicating an ambient temperature ofabove thirty degrees Celsius) at which the one or more devices arepresent.

All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications,U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applicationsand non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/orlisted in any Application Data Sheet, are incorporated herein byreference, to the extent not inconsistent herewith.

While particular aspects of the present subject matter described hereinhave been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the subject matter described hereinand its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are toencompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as arewithin the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein.It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.).

It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specificnumber of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intentwill be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of suchrecitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to claims containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations).

Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “atleast one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a constructionis intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understandthe convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C”would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone,C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A,B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general sucha construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase “Aor B” will be typically understood to include the possibilities of “A”or “B” or “A and B.”

With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art willappreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed inany order. Also, although various operational flows are presented in asequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may beperformed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may beperformed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may includeoverlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental,preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variantorderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like“responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives aregenerally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictatesotherwise.

This application may make reference to one or more trademarks, e.g., aword, letter, symbol, or device adopted by one manufacturer or merchantand used to identify and/or distinguish his or her product from those ofothers. Trademark names used herein are set forth in such language thatmakes clear their identity, that distinguishes them from commondescriptive nouns, that have fixed and definite meanings, or, in many ifnot all cases, are accompanied by other specific identification usingterms not covered by trademark. In addition, trademark names used hereinhave meanings that are well-known and defined in the literature, or donot refer to products or compounds for which knowledge of one or moretrade secrets is required in order to divine their meaning Alltrademarks referenced in this application are the property of theirrespective owners, and the appearance of one or more trademarks in thisapplication does not diminish or otherwise adversely affect the validityof the one or more trademarks. All trademarks, registered orunregistered, that appear in this application are assumed to include aproper trademark symbol, e.g., the circle R or bracketed capitalization(e.g., [trademark name]), even when such trademark symbol does notexplicitly appear next to the trademark. To the extent a trademark isused in a descriptive manner to refer to a product or process, thattrademark should be interpreted to represent the corresponding productor process as of the date of the filing of this patent application.

Throughout this application, the terms “in an embodiment,” ‘in oneembodiment,” “in some embodiments,” “in several embodiments,” “in atleast one embodiment,” “in various embodiments,” and the like, may beused. Each of these terms, and all such similar terms should beconstrued as “in at least one embodiment, and possibly but notnecessarily all embodiments,” unless explicitly stated otherwise.Specifically, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the intent of phraseslike these is to provide non-exclusive and non-limiting examples ofimplementations of the invention. The mere statement that one, some, ormay embodiments include one or more things or have one or more features,does not imply that all embodiments include one or more things or haveone or more features, but also does not imply that such embodiments mustexist. It is a mere indicator of an example and should not beinterpreted otherwise, unless explicitly stated as such.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specificexemplary processes and/or devices and/or technologies arerepresentative of more general processes and/or devices and/ortechnologies taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

1-147. (canceled)
 148. A device, comprising: a device attribute datarelated to one or more device attributes obtaining module; an anonymizeddata formed by modifying acquired attribute data to obscure a deviceand/or user identifying portion of the device attribute data generatingmodule; an anonymized data presentation to one or more entitiesconfigured to obtain one or more device-based services facilitatingmodule; and a one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data acquiring module.
 149. (canceled) 150.(canceled)
 151. (canceled)
 152. (canceled)
 153. (canceled) 154.(canceled)
 155. (canceled)
 156. The device of claim 148, wherein saiddevice attribute data related to one or more device attributes obtainingmodule comprises: a device data communication via network monitoringmodule; and an attribute data related to one or more device attributescollecting through monitoring communication by the one or more devicesover a communication network module.
 157. (canceled)
 158. (canceled)159. (canceled)
 160. (canceled)
 161. (canceled)
 162. (canceled) 163.(canceled)
 164. The device of claim 148, wherein said device attributedata related to one or more device attributes obtaining modulecomprises: a device criterion data related to number of devices thatmeet one or more criteria obtaining module.
 165. (canceled)
 166. Thedevice of claim 148, wherein said anonymized data formed by modifyingacquired attribute data to obscure a device and/or user identifyingportion of the device attribute data generating module comprises: ananonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data includingone or more contact lists and one or more device identification numbersof one or more devices, to obscure a device and/or user identifyingportion of the device attribute data generating module.
 167. The deviceof claim 166, wherein said anonymized data formed by modifying acquiredattribute data including one or more contact lists and one or moredevice identification numbers of one or more devices, to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module comprises: an anonymized data formed by modifyingacquired attribute data including one or more contact lists and one ormore device identification numbers of one or more devices, bysubstituting a particular character of the device identification numberwith a different character, to obscure a device and/or user identifyingportion of the device attribute data generating module.
 168. The deviceof claim 148, wherein said anonymized data formed by modifying acquiredattribute data to obscure a device and/or user identifying portion ofthe device attribute data generating module comprises: an anonymizeddata formed by altering acquired attribute data to obscure a deviceidentifying portion of the device attribute data generating module. 169.The device of claim 148, wherein said anonymized data formed bymodifying acquired attribute data to obscure a device and/or useridentifying portion of the device attribute data generating modulecomprises: an anonymized data formed by altering acquired attribute datato obscure a device user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module.
 170. The device of claim 148, wherein saidanonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module comprises: an anonymized data formed by deleting atleast a portion of acquired attribute data to obscure a device and/oruser identifying portion of the device attribute data generating module.171. The device of claim 148, wherein said anonymized data formed bymodifying acquired attribute data to obscure a device and/or useridentifying portion of the device attribute data generating modulecomprises: an anonymized data formed by aggregating at least a portionof acquired attribute data to obscure a device and/or user identifyingportion of the device attribute data generating module.
 172. (canceled)173. The device of claim 148, wherein said anonymized data formed bymodifying acquired attribute data to obscure a device and/or useridentifying portion of the device attribute data generating modulecomprises: an anonymized data formed by adding acquired attribute datato previously acquired property data and removing specific relationalinformation between the one or more devices and the acquired attributedata, to obscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the deviceattribute data generating module.
 174. The device of claim 148, whereinsaid anonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module comprises: an anonymized data formed byencrypting at least a portion of acquired attribute data to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module.
 175. The device of claim 148, wherein said anonymizeddata formed by modifying acquired attribute data to obscure a deviceand/or user identifying portion of the device attribute data generatingmodule comprises: an anonymized data formed by modifying acquiredattribute data using a reversible data transformation algorithm toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module.
 176. The device of claim 148, wherein saidanonymized data formed by modifying acquired attribute data to obscure adevice and/or user identifying portion of the device attribute datagenerating module comprises: an anonymized data formed by replacing aportion of the acquired attribute data with a lookup table value, toobscure a device and/or user identifying portion of the device attributedata generating module.
 177. (canceled)
 178. (canceled)
 179. The deviceof claim 148, wherein said anonymized data formed by modifying acquiredattribute data to obscure a device and/or user identifying portion ofthe device attribute data generating module comprises: an anonymizeddata formed by replacing at least a portion of the acquired attributedata with data having a particular obscuring format, to obscure a deviceand/or user identifying portion of the device attribute data generatingmodule.
 180. (canceled)
 181. (canceled)
 182. (canceled)
 183. The deviceof claim 148, wherein said anonymized data presentation to one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module comprises: an anonymized data transmission to one ormore entities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module.
 184. The device of claim 148, wherein saidanonymized data presentation to one or more entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services facilitating module comprises:an anonymized data presentation via a visual exchange interface to oneor more entities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module.
 185. The device of claim 184, wherein saidanonymized data presentation via a visual exchange interface to one ormore entities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module comprises: an anonymized data presentation via avisual exchange interface designed for one or more service providingentities to the one or more service providing entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services facilitating module. 186.(canceled)
 187. (canceled)
 188. The device of claim 148, wherein saidanonymized data presentation to one or more entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services facilitating module comprises:an anonymized data presentation in a bid auction format to one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module.
 189. The device of claim 148, wherein saidanonymized data presentation to one or more entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services facilitating module comprises:a one or more entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices request for particular anonymized data receiving module; ananonymized data suitability for fulfilling request for particularanonymized data determining module; and an at least a portion ofanonymized data transmitting in response to request for particularanonymized data module.
 190. (canceled)
 191. (canceled)
 192. (canceled)193. The device of claim 148, wherein said anonymized data presentationto one or more entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices facilitating module comprises: an anonymized data request fromone or more entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices receiving module; and a one or more entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services that requested anonymized dataselecting module.
 194. The device of claim 193, wherein said one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based services thatrequested anonymized data selecting module comprises: a one or moreentities configured to obtain one or more device-based services thatrequested anonymized data selecting at least partly based on entityprior relationship module.
 195. (canceled)
 196. The device of claim 148,wherein said anonymized data presentation to one or more entitiesconfigured to obtain one or more device-based services facilitatingmodule comprises: a portion of anonymized data transmission to one ormore entities configured to obtain one or more device-based servicesfacilitating module; and a remainder of anonymized data transmission toone or more entities configured to obtain one or more device-basedservices facilitating in response to a received indication from the oneor more entities requesting the remainder of anonymized data module.197. (canceled)
 198. (canceled)
 199. (canceled)
 200. The device of claim148, wherein said one or more entity-obtained device based services atleast partly based on anonymized data acquiring module comprises: a oneor more entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data receiving module.
 201. The device of claim 148, whereinsaid one or more entity-obtained device based services at least partlybased on anonymized data acquiring module comprises: a determiningwhether one or more services are present by polling one or more entitiesconfigured to provide one or more device-based services module; and adetermined one or more services acquiring from the polled one or moreentities module.
 202. The device of claim 201, wherein said determinedone or more services acquiring from the polled one or more entitiesmodule comprises: a determined one or more services acquiring from thepolled one or more entities, at least partly based on one or more devicefeatures related to the one or more device-based services module. 203.The device of claim 202, wherein said determined one or more servicesacquiring from the polled one or more entities, at least partly based onone or more device features related to the one or more device-basedservices module comprises: a determined one or more services acquiringfrom the polled one or more entities, at least partly based on one ormore device portions deemed valuable to which the one or moredevice-based services require access module.
 204. The device of claim203, wherein said determined one or more services acquiring from thepolled one or more entities, at least partly based on one or more deviceportions deemed valuable to which the one or more device-based servicesrequire access module comprises: a determined one or more servicesacquiring from the polled one or more entities, at least partly based onone or more device portions indicating information regarding a positionof the device that is deemed valuable, to which the one or moredevice-based services require access module.
 205. (canceled)
 206. Thedevice of claim 148, wherein said one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data acquiring modulecomprises: a one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data receiving module; and a received one ormore entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data selecting module.
 207. The device of claim 206, whereinsaid received one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data selecting module comprises: a receivedone or more entity-obtained device based services at least partly basedon anonymized data selecting at least partly based on analysis ofanonymized data module.
 208. The device of claim 206, wherein saidreceived one or more entity-obtained device based services comprises: areceived one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data selecting at least partly based onvaluation of anonymized data module.
 209. The device of claim 148,wherein said one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data acquiring module comprises: a one ormore entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data information regarding the service acquiring module; anda deanonymization data configured to uniquely identify one or moredevices offering in exchange for receiving the particular one or moreentity-obtained device based services for which information was acquiredmodule.
 210. The device of claim 148, wherein said one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring module comprises: a one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data configured touniquely identify the device module.
 211. The device of claim 210,wherein said one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymizationdata configured to uniquely identify the device module comprises: a oneor more entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data to aparticular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to uniquely identify the device module.212. The device of claim 211, wherein said one or more entity-obtaineddevice based services at least partly based on anonymized data acquiringby offering deanonymization data configured to uniquely identify thedevice module comprises: a one or more entity-obtained device basedservices at least partly based on anonymized data acquiring by offeringdeanonymization data to a particular entity that generated a particularservice, said deanonymization data configured to transform theanonymized data into data uniquely identifying the device module. 213.The device of claim 212, wherein said one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data acquiring byoffering deanonymization data to a particular entity that generated aparticular service, said deanonymization data configured to transformthe anonymized data into data uniquely identifying the device modulecomprises: a one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymizationdata to a particular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to decrypt the anonymized data into datauniquely identifying the device module.
 214. The device of claim 212,wherein said one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymizationdata to a particular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to transform the anonymized data intodata uniquely identifying the device module comprises: a one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring by offering deanonymization data to aparticular entity that generated a particular service, saiddeanonymization data configured to substituting the anonymized data fordata uniquely identifying the device module.
 215. (canceled)
 216. Thedevice of claim 148, wherein said one or more entity-obtained devicebased services at least partly based on anonymized data acquiring modulecomprises: a one or more entity-obtained device based services at leastpartly based on anonymized data indicating a type of the deviceacquiring module.
 217. The device of claim 148, wherein said one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring module comprises: a one or moreentity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data indicating a condition present on the device acquiringmodule.
 218. (canceled)
 219. (canceled)
 220. A device, comprising: oneor more general purpose integrated circuits configured to receiveinstructions to configure as a device attribute data related to one ormore device attributes obtaining module at one or more first particulartimes; one or more general purpose integrated circuits configured toreceive instructions to configure as a anonymized data formed bymodifying acquired attribute data to obscure a device and/or useridentifying portion of the device attribute data generating module atone or more second particular times; one or more general purposeintegrated circuits configured to receive instructions to configure asan anonymized data presentation to one or more entities configured toobtain one or more device-based services facilitating module at one ormore third particular times; and one or more general purpose integratedcircuits configured to receive instructions to configure as a one ormore entity-obtained device based services at least partly based onanonymized data acquiring module at one or more fourth particular times.221. The device of claim 220, wherein said one or more second particulartimes occur prior to the one or more third particular times and fourthparticular times and after the one or more first particular times. 222.(canceled)
 223. (canceled)